Unmet Mental Health Service Needs in Kinship Care: The Importance of Assessing and Supporting Caregivers

Abstract

Although children in kinship care reportedly have better outcomes than their nonkinship foster care peers, some have unmet mental health needs or delayed service utilization. This study confirms the presence of unmet mental health needs among children in kinship care and indicates that concerns about caregivers moderate the relationship between identified service needs and service utilization. It is important that child welfare assessments consider caregiver capacity to meet each child's needs and, especially within kinship care where not all caregivers are licensed, respond to the resource, housing, education, and service needs of caregivers.