From Family Duty to Family Policy: The Evolution of Kinship Care

Abstract

The increasing number and proportion of children in out-of-home care placed in the homes of relatives are among the most important child welfare trends of the decade [Berrick et al. 1994; Center for the Study of Social Policy 1990]. This article describes historical and recent developments in care and discusses policy implications. It considers a range of definitions and ways of conceptualizing care and applies the broadest of these when exploring the experiences of persons of color.Overview of CareDefinitions of CareThe term care has been recently used by the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) Commission on Family Foster Care, which, in cooperation with the National Foster Parent Association, developed goals and recommendations promoting relatives and friends as placement resources for children in out-of-home care [CWLA 1994; Takas 1992]. The movement toward care is congruent with the earlier work of Stack [1974], who documented the importance of extended networks in the African American community. The term kin usually includes any relative, by blood or marriage, or any person with family [Takas 1993]. Billingsley [1992: 31] refers to the close family ties category as relationships of appropriation, meaning unions without blood or marital ties. He writes that people can become part of a family unit or, indeed, form a family unit simply by deciding to live and act toward each other as family. It is in this broad sense that informs the statement by the Child Welfare League of America [1994: 2]: Kinship care may be defined as the full-time nurturing and protection of children who must be separated from their by relatives, members of their tribes or clans, godparents, stepparents, or other adults who have a bond with a child.Some definitions of caregiving concern both informal and formal child placement with relatives. Takas [1993: 3] notes that Kinship care includes both private care (entered by private family arrangement) and foster care (care provided for a child who is in the legal custody of the state child welfare agency).Other authors prefer the terms caregivers for those who provide private care and foster for those whose care falls within the formal child welfare system [Berrick et al. 1994]. The majority of empirical research has been conducted with kinship foster parents [Berrick et al. 1994; Iglehart 1994; Thornton 1991]. In this article, we consider care in the broadest sense when reviewing its historical context. In discussions of research and of social policy, we focus on the narrower meaning most commonly encountered in those contexts, which is out-of-home care provided by relatives to children in the custody of state child welfare agencies.Demographic TrendsAlthough social policy and social work practice emphasize permanency planning and family preservation, the foster care census is skyrocketing. Due in part to a 333% increase in the number of children reported as abused or neglected during the past 15 years, the number of children entering out-of-home care since 1982 has increased dramatically [Merkel-Holguin 1993]. This increase in the out-of-home care population has been accompanied by a decrease in the number of foster parents, from 147,000 in 1984 to 100,000 in 1990 [National Commission on Foster Family Care 1991].The increasing number of children in care and the declining pool of traditional foster families, along with recognition of the benefits of family care, are among the forces that have led togrowing use of care. More than 31% of all children in state custody are placed with extended family members, according to a recent U.S. Health and Human Services report based on data from 29 states [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 1992].In certain states, the percentage of foster children in homes ranges even higher than the national average, exceeding the number of children in nonrelative family foster homes [Gleeson & Craig 1994]. …