Practice Profile: Kinship Care for Children Removed from Home for Maltreatment

An alternative to traditional foster care, this practice places children removed from home due to maltreatment with other members of their family or with friends of the family. This practice is rated Promising for reducing behavioral and adaptive problems, increasing child well-being, decreasing the number of placements, and reducing institutional abuse. The practice is rated Ineffective for increasing family reunification and attachment.

Practice Goals/Target Population

Child abuse, neglect, or other types of maltreatment often result in the removal of children (under the age of 18) from the home and in their placement in one of several different types of out-of-home-settings, the most common of which is within the foster care system (Winokur, Holtan, and Batchelder 2014). An alternative to traditional foster care placement, kinship care allows children removed from their parents to be cared for by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, godparents, stepparents, or other adults with whom they have a kinship bond (Child Welfare League of America 1994). Kinship care allows children to live with individuals whom they know and trust, reduces the trauma children may experience when they are placed with unknown persons in foster care, and reinforces children’s sense of identity and self-esteem that is often tied to family history and culture (Wilson and Chipunga 1996).

The primary goal of kinship care is either 1) family preservation, in which the permanency goal for children is reunification with their birth parents; or 2) substitute care, in which kinship care is considered to be a long-term arrangement when reunification is not possible, or the permanency goal is adoption or guardianship by kin caregivers (Scannapieco and Hegar 1999).

Practice Components

There are several variations of kinship care, including formal, informal, and private placements. Formal kinship care refers to a legal arrangement in which a child welfare agency has custody of a child and arranges placement with a kin caregiver, who can be licensed or unlicensed (Ayala-Quillen 1998). Informal kinship care refers to when a child welfare agency assists in placing a child with a kin caregiver, but the agency does not seek court action to obtain custody of the child (Geen 2000). Finally, private kinship care is a voluntary arrangement between the birth parents and family members without the involvement of a child welfare agency (Dubowitz 1994).

These sources were used in the development of the practice profile:

These sources were used in the development of the practice profile:

Ayala-Quillen, B.A. 1998. “The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 Kinship Care Report: An Analysis of Key Areas.” Protecting Children 14(3):12–14.

Child Welfare League of America. 1994. Kinship Care: A Natural Bridge. Washington, D.C.: Child Welfare League of America.

Dubowitz, Howard. 1994. “Kinship Care: Suggestions for Future Research.” Child Welfare 73(5):553–64.

Geen, Rob. 2000. “In the Interest of Children: Rethinking Federal and State Policies Affecting Kinship Care.” Policy & Practice of Public Human Services 58(1):19–27.

Scannapieco, Maria, and Rebecca L. Hegar. 1999. “Kinship Foster Care in Context.” In Rebecca L. Hegar, and Maria Scannapieco (eds.). Kinship Foster Care: Policy, Practice, and Research. New York: Oxford University Press,1–13.

Wilson, D.B., and S.S. Chipungu. 1996. “Introduction.” Child Welfare 75(5):387-95.

Winokur, Marc A., Amy Holtan, and Keri E. Batchelder. 2018. "Systematic Review of Kinship Care Effects on Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being Outcomes." Research on Social Work Practice 28(1):19-32.

Winokur, Marc, Desiree Rozen, Stephen Thompson, Shawon Green, and Deborah Valentine. 2005. Kinship Care in the United States: A Systematic Review of Evidence-Based Research. Social Work Research Centre: Colorado State University.

Winokur, Marc, Amy Holtan, and Deborah Valentine. 2009. "Kinship Care for the Safety, Permanency, and Well-Being of Children Removed from the Home for Maltreatment." Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 1.

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Baltimore City (Md.) Family Recovery Program

KEEP (Keeping Foster and Kinship Parents Supported and Trained)

Family Finding

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?