Abstract
AbstractKinship care is the preferred alternative for children who cannot remain with their birth family, maintaining birth family links and continuity in other parts of their life. However, kinship care has also been associated with risk factors including lack of support, difficult contact with biological parents, adverse childhood experiences for the child, carer stress and financial difficulties. Using routine data from a kinship care helpline service, this study employed a mixed‐method analysis of the association between socioeconomic deprivation and risk factors reported by kinship carers and explored social capital in kinship families. Findings indicated common risk factors experienced by kinship families regardless of deprivation level. However, certain risk factors were reported more in areas of high or low socioeconomic deprivation. Mapping the social capital of kinship families indicated that kinship families connect more with relatives than other types of informal, semi‐formal or formal support services. However, these relationships are often problematic. The most prominent obstacle to social capital growth in kinship carers was financial difficulties. Our findings suggest that kinship carers may use support services differentially according to deprivation level, and socioeconomic deprivation may influence building social capital in kinship families.
Highlights
For children who are unable to live with their birth parent/s, placement with friends or family, known as kinship care, is the preferred choice (Department of Health, 2011; Farmer, Selwyn, & Meakings, 2013)
One or more identified risk factor relating to the individual, biological parent/s and/or kinship family was identified in 82% (n = 41) of cases
Thematic analysis indicated several similar themes reported by kinship carers in areas of high and low socioeconomic deprivation, such as lack of support, issues surrounding contact with birth parents and Formal Benefits and welfare Educational services Housing services Legal NHS or other health services Social services or other government body Total references
Summary
For children who are unable to live with their birth parent/s, placement with friends or family, known as kinship care, is the preferred choice (Department of Health, 2011; Farmer, Selwyn, & Meakings, 2013). The familiarity and continuity of kinship care may reduce the trauma of being removed from parents (Wu, White, & Coleman, 2015) and offer a sense of family support (Dubowitz et al, 1994), belonging and self-identity (Messing, 2006) through continued contact with siblings (Hegar & Rosenthal, 2009) and birth parents (Berrick, Barth, & Needell, 1994). Research into kinship families has predominantly been conducted in the United States and primarily focused on child outcomes (Winokur, Holtan, & Batchelder, 2018). As the well-being of kinship carers and that of the child has been shown to be interrelated (Garcia et al, 2015), and the United Kingdom provides a different welfare state context, the experiences of kinship carers in the UK deserve further examination.
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