Research on kinship foster care: What do we know? Where do we go from here?

Abstract

Pergamon Children and Youth Services Review, Vol. 16, Nos. l/Z. pp. 1-S. 1994 CopytightB 1994 Ekvier Science Ltd Primed in the USA. All rights reserved $6.00 + .@I Research on Kinship Foster Care: What Do We Know? Where Do We Go From Here? Jill Duerr Bet-rick Richard P. Barth University of California, Berkeley In recent years, kinship care has gained increasing notice from practi- tioners, policy makers and researchers. Our attention has been captivated by the large numbers of children now being served in foster care by kin. The development of kinship care as a foster care resource has been stim- ulated by legal, demographic, and value-based changes. First was the Miller v. Youakim Supreme Court (1979) case which determined that kin could not be excluded from the definition of foster parents and that under some conditions, kin might be eligible for foster care benefits. Second, the burgeoning foster care census and changing economic circumstances that leave far fewer conventional unrelated foster parents at home to care for children have contributed to greater inclusion of kin and fictive kin as fos- ter caregivers (National Commission on Family Foster Care, 1991). Third, kinship care’s development has been spurred on by a refocussing of values and priorities regarding the role of family--broadly defined--in the lives of children. Kinship foster care has developed at a time when calls for family preservation have grown increasingly urgent (National Commission on Children, 1993). Many child welfare experts believe that children will be better served if their care is provided by family members within the community of origin, rather than strangers (Chipungu, 199 1). Research in the area of kinship care has not kept pace with its development as a placement alternative. Until recently, few studies were available that focused on the characteristics of kinship providers or on the children in their care. Neither were studies available which addressed the services provided to kin through the child welfare system, or about the providers’ views of their roles within this system. Researchers are finally embracing this issue. In the meantime, kinship care is becoming the pre- dominant form of out-of-home care in several large states (Barth, Court- ney, Bet-rick, & Albert, 1994; Wulczyn & Goerge, 1992).