Kinship Care | Better Care Network

Kinship Care

Kinship care is the full-time care of a child by a relative or another member of the extended family. This type of arrangement is the most common form of out of home care throughout the world and is typically arranged without formal legal proceedings. In many developing countries, it is essentially the only form of alternative family care available on a significant scale.

In the context of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, kinship care is the primary mechanism that has enabled a vast majority of children who have lost both parents to remain in family care in their community.

Kinship care offers many advantages over other forms of care for children not able to live with their parents. It allows family relationships to continue, maintains the child within her culture and community, and avoids the anxieties related to placements with unfamiliar adults.

Kinship care is more successful with immediate family members, rather than distant relatives. Children may be treated differently than the caretaker’s own children, and exploited, abused or denied access to education and health services. Kinship care has also been shown to result in the delayed reunification of a child and parents, either because the family is comfortable with the situation, there are financial disincentives for returning the child, or social services are less active in moving the case forward.

In order to reduce the incidence of such problems, the use of kinship care should be appropriately monitored by the local authority or a protection agency. Children in kinship care have a right to protection and family support services. However, it must be recognized that kinship care has a positive effect on many children's lives. Placing requirements on kinship arrangements that unnecessarily intefere with or interrupt this traditional caretaking practice should be avoided.

Kinship care may be an option for child protection agencies to consider when a child is without adequate family care. The decision to use kinship care will depend on what is in the child’s best interests, and should involve a careful assessment of the child’s opinions, the family’s ability to care for the child, and permanency planning in order to work towards timely family reunification. Financial support is an area for debate since, while it can enable a family to care for a child, it may also encourage relatives to keep a child for monetary gain.

The resources found in this section provide policy guidance and country examples on the use of kinship care.

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Kinship care in Sub-Saharan Africa: An asset worth supporting

Gillian Mann and Emily Delap - Family for Every Child, 01 Dec 2020

This paper argues that kinship care – the care of children by relatives or friends of the family – represents the greatest resource available for meeting the needs of girls and boys who are orphaned or otherwise live apart from their parents.

Pediatrician Guidance in Supporting Families of Children Who Are Adopted, Fostered, or in Kinship Care

Veronnie F. Jones, Elaine E. Schulte, Douglas Waite - Pediatrics, 01 Nov 2020

This paper explores how pediatricians can support families who care for children and adolescents who are fostered and adopted while attending to children’s medical needs and helping each child attain their developmental potential.

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International Kinship Care Guide

Cross Border Child Safeguarding Working Group, Children and Families Across Borders, 01 Nov 2020

This guide is the first of its kind which comprehensively addresses the best practice for placing Looked After Children currently in the UK into the care of a family member(s) who lives in another country.

Grandparenting styles, childhood food insecurity, and depression among Chinese rural left-behind children: a structural equation model

Fan Yang and Xiaoli Liu - Children and Youth Services Review, 28 Oct 2020

The present study aims to explore the associations between grandparenting styles and childhood depression, as well as the mediating role of childhood food insecurity on the focal associations among Chinese rural left-behind children.

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Towards Culturally Specific Solutions: Evidence from Ghanaian Kinship Caregivers on Child Neglect Intervention

Alhassan Abdullah, Margarita Frederico, Ebenezer Cudjoe, Clifton R. Emery - Child Abuse Review, 17 Oct 2020

Drawing on semi‐structured in‐depth interviews with 31 kinship caregivers, this study sought to explore how the culturally informed traditional kinship care practice in Ghana can be considered an intervention strategy for parental neglect.

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The nature and prevalence of kinship care: Focus on young kinship carers

Meredith Kiraly, David Hoadley, Cathy Humphreys - Child & Family Social Work, 11 Oct 2020

This Australian research project explored the prevalence of kinship care households in Australia, with a particular focus on households headed by young kinship carers.

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Kinship carers' experiences during the coronavirus crisis

Kirsty Deacon - CELCIS, 01 Oct 2020

A survey was administered to develop a better understanding of the experiences of kinship care households in the UK as a result of the Coronavirus crisis, and what urgent steps could be taken by Government, local authorities and other agencies to help. This supplementary report provides an in-depth analysis of the kinship carers in Scotland and provides the legal context to influence national and local kinship care policies, practices and services of local authorities and other public agencies.

My Journey into ‘Child Protection’ and Aboriginal Family Led Decision Making

Hannah McGlade - Australian Feminist Law Journal , 30 Sep 2020

This article documents the author's experiences with the state’s contemporary removal of Aboriginal children in Western Australia (WA) and the practice of Aboriginal Family Led Decision Making (AFLDM), a family led decision making process supported as best practice for Aboriginal families.

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Foster and kinship carer survey: Accessing health services for children in out‐of‐home care

Karen McLean, Harriet Hiscock, Dorothy Scott, Sharon Goldfeld - Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health , 19 Sep 2020

The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of Victorian foster and kinship carers in accessing health services for children in their care and to quantify the frequency of potential barriers to health care.

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Reunification in Custodial Grandfamilies: An Examination of Resilient Family Processes

Megan L. Dolbin‐MacNab, Gregory C. Smith, Bert Hayslip Jr. - Family Relations, 04 Sep 2020

This study examined how custodial grandmothers navigated the process of their grandchildren being reunified with a biological parent.

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