Kinship and non-kinship foster care: Differences in contact with parents and foster child's mental health problems

Abstract

Foster care placements, especially placements with kin, are the first option of choice when parents cannot maintain the care for their children. Therefore, an evaluation of this type of out-of-home-placement, with special attention for the differences between kinship and non-kinship placements, is necessary. In this study both types of foster placements (n = 186) are compared for two important aspects: contact with/attitude of parents and mental health of foster children. Non-kinship foster placements fare better on different aspects of contact with/attitude of parents than kinship foster placements. Foster children in kinship foster placements have less behavioral problems than non-kinship foster children. However, not the type of foster placement but the number of previous out-of-home placements is the most important predictive factor for behavioral problems. Implications for practice and policy are discussed.