Abstract
Face-to-face interviews with 120 predominantly African American kin caregivers of children in the child welfare system revealed significant associations between family functioning and child behavior problems. Caregivers who reported healthier family functioning tended to report lower levels of behavior problems by the children in their care. Healthier family functioning related to roles and affective involvement were associated with lower levels of child behavior problems, but, surprisingly, less healthy family functioning related to behavior control was also associated with lower levels of child behavior problems. Caregiver ratings of their parenting styles were related to family functioning but not to their ratings of the child's behavioral functioning. Results of this study suggest several implications for child welfare practice and future research.
Highlights
Face-to-face interviews with 120 predominantly African American kin caregivers of children in the child welfare system revealed significant associations between family functioning and child behavior problems
While children of all racial and ethnic groups reside in kinship care, African American children are three times more likely than White children to be in the custody of the child welfare system, and after taken into custody, they are more likely to be placed with kin (Ortega, Grogan-Kaylor, Ruffolo, Clarke, & Karb, 2010)
Long before the child welfare system “discovered” kinship care, families were caring for related children when their own parents were unable to do so, and this is true for African Americans
Summary
Child welfare practitioners should be prepared to help extended families renegotiate roles, responsibilities, and communication patterns, and express emotional support and concern for all family members in order to support the caregiver and assist in rearing children in kinship care. Long before the child welfare system “discovered” kinship care, families were caring for related children when their own parents were unable to do so, and this is true for African Americans. This study begins to address this gap by examining the relationship between kin caregivers’ perceptions of the level of problematic behavior of a sample of children in the custody of the child welfare system, parenting styles reported by these caregivers, and the caregivers’ assessments of the functioning of their families. We end with a discussion of the study findings, limitations, and implications for future research and practice
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