Kinship Placement : A Priority Option For Children Entering Foster Care

Kinship care is defined as "a form of foster care in which a relative of a maltreated child, usually a grandparent, becomes the approved caregiver" (Berger, 2015, p. 272). An advantage of kinship care is that most children develop better in kinship care and foster care compared to their original families who are abusive. Children placed in kinship care may have a better transition and have better stability in the care of the adults the child is already familiar with. Kinship care is less traumatizing and it does not result is the level of struggle of being adopted by strangers. Grandparents, aunts, and uncles, may provide a sense of home for the child since they are relatives. Also, they will be able to share memories and have meaningful conversations during the beginning stages of the adoptive placement.

The number of children in the foster care system continues to increase. While the foster care system is essential in helping abused, abandoned, and neglected children, many children remain in foster care for long periods of time when family reunification or adoption is planned. Court delays can often extend the time between when children enter the foster care system and when they are placed into permanent homes. Significant differences exist in the quality of care and outcomes for children depending on their race and ethnicity. The percentage of children of color in the foster care system is larger than the percentage of children of color among the general U.S. population. However, the occurrence of child abuse and neglect is at about the same rate in all racial/ethnic groups.

Until recently, there has been little attention given to basic issues regarding siblings in out-of-home care (McCormick, 2010, p.198). There are many reasons as to why this should be important to child welfare researchers and policy makers. “Sibling relationships are an integral part of childhood and continued development and these sibling relationships can serve as a source of protection and healing throughout their journey in out of home care” (Cicirelli, 1995).

More than two-hundred and fifty thousand children enter the foster care system each year, making it extremely difficult to find the right caregiver for each child. There are so may effects on the child that last their entire lifetime, making it difficult for them to trust others. Not being able to trust their peers, they often find it hard to make friends and long-term relationships last. Fortunately, there are many results that can improve everyone’s position in placing the child. Foster care agencies repeatedly create destructive situations due to the selected caregiver, as well as the plethora of glitches that are created. Due to the unacceptable and inappropriate selection of foster parents, the child frequently experiences difficulties and disadvantages later on. Most children are placed into foster care because of mistreatment and experience the same treatment in their foster homes. Unfortunately, a lot of times the foster parent will take their anger out on their foster child, making a wide array of short-term and long-term complications for the child.

Court involvement and a label of permanency differentiate traditional foster care placements and kinship placements.imagine a child who lives with a relative for a dozen years and maintains traditional foster care status, before entering a kinship program.

Kinship care is the full-time care and nurturing of a child by a relative or someone who has a significant emotional relationship with the child. If children must be separate from their parents, either voluntarily or by court order, kinship care should be the first placement option explored by the child welfare agency. The Federal Government endorsed this practice most recently in the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008. Placing children in Kinship care helps States’ compliance with Federal requirements to provide children with safety, stability, and permanency. It also meets provisions of the Fostering Connection Act that requires agencies to notify relatives when

Inquiries into the mental wellbeing and “child friendliness” of hopeful foster parents should be a top priority. It should also be a requirement for foster families to be reviewed or at least monitored over the course of a few years to determine whether or not they are good parents. There should also be an increase in awareness regarding familial abuse including ways to identify it and help those who are victims of abuse.

Permanency planning starts as soon as a child comes into foster care by providing family engagement and support services, simultaneously to children and their families to achieve permanency (Lopez, Del Valle, Montserrat, & Bravo, 2013; Goemans, Vanderfaeillie, Damen, Pijnenburg, & Van Holen, 2016). The desired outcome of permanency planning is to connect foster children to a permanent family, whether it is through reunification, placement with a biological family member (kinship), or through adoption by a non-relative family (Biehal, 2014). Research shows the quickest route to permanency is through reunification over kinship or adoption, making it the primary permanency goal when children come into foster care (Akin, 2011; Boldis & Tomlinson, 2014). However, research also indicates that if reunification does not occur within one year of coming into foster care, the chances of a child returning home drops to 19%, increasing the overall time

There are a number of recommendations, investigations and considerations that can be implemented to ensure the safety and wellbeing of the children. Firstly, Cara is a good option for Lydia and Lilly to be temporarily placed with as she shares the same cultural values and is known to the family however it is clear that due to Cara’s age and her situation of already caring for two other children her capacity to care for the Lydia and Lilly is low. Where possible the younger Pederson children should be placed into temporary kinship foster care. It is evident that child welfare professionals agree that children are better off being placed with kin as they demonstrate a stronger sense of belonging when place in kinship foster care and kinship foster care present many benefits to children such as identity formation (Beeman & Boisen, 1999). This

According to the data from the NSCAW II wave 3 tables, children in out-of-home care were predominately cared for by relatives not receiving compensation from the child welfare system, followed by foster caregivers, and lastly by formal kin care, or relatives who receive compensation from the child welfare system (Dolan, Casanueva, Smith, and Ringeisen, 2012). Foster caregivers most likely to be between the ages of 30-49 years, slightly more likely to be black than white, have more than a high school diploma, work full-time or choose not to work, and be married. Formal kin caregivers were most likely to be between the ages of 50-59 years of age, be white, have a high school diploma, choose not to work, and also be married (Casanueva et al.,

While there may be many strategies child welfare agencies undertake to maintain or improve the well-being of children in their care, where and with whom children are placed is of utmost importance ( Child Development, 2014 pg 2074). There are few placement options considered when children are Out of Home Care; Kinship Care and Foster Care are two very different choices.

“When children enter foster care, the initial plan is for children to return to live with their families once they have adequately resolved the problems that made their children unsafe and made foster care necessary.” “While a little more than half of children who enter care return home to their birth families, the rest will need other plans to end the temporary placement of foster care.” (childrensaidsociety.org) Even with foster care some children hope to find a permanent family to live with but according to research, today adoption is viewed as a last resort, even for couples with fertility problems. (Reed, Leslie,) Today people have fears of bonding with the child, unknown health issues and behavioral issues. (Patricelli, Kathryn). In the future adoption will revolve around securing information with international adoption, getting more access to original birth certificates and other legal

For nearly four decades, child welfare policy and practice have focused on the achievement of legal permanence for children in foster care. We are now at a crossroads in advancing our understanding of a 21st century child welfare system. As this paper will detail, we are now at a point where there are 2.8 children living in federally-funded Title IV-E adoptive and guardianship homes for every child living in Title IV-E subsidized foster care. In the United States, when a child or youth achieves legal permanence through adoption or guardianship, legal custody of the child is transferred from the state to adoptive parents or guardians. When children are adopted, parental rights are terminated whereas in cases of guardianship, parental rights may or may not be terminated.

The article referred to analyze the effect of foster care among children is found in the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry. The article title is Optimizing Foster Family Placement for Infants and Toddlers: A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Effect of the Foster Family Intervention. The authors are: Hans Van Andel, Wendy Post, Lucres Jansen, Rutger Jan Van der Gaag, Erik Knorth, Hans Grietens. The volume of the journal is volume 86, issue 3. The Journal is on pages 332-344.

The main aim of the paper is to compare the advantages of sibling adoption in foster care homes over adopting single children and splitting siblings for home based adoption.