Recommendations from the Literature

As part of the project we commissioned Francisco Guillén-Grima, MD, PhD, MPH, MSc, MBA and his colleagues at the University of Navarra to carry out a  comprehensive literature review, surveying the evidence base on kinship care.

The review can be downloaded in each of the languages of the partnership on our publications page.

Key findings

The key findings we drew from the published research were:

  1. Child welfare agencies in the developed world are increasingly turning to kinship placements.
  2. The latest evidence confirms that children in kinship care have an advantage over children in foster care in achievement permanency and improved well-being. This finding supports efforts to maximize placement of children with willing and available kin. However, other studies have failed to demonstrate significant differences between children raised by kin and foster parents.
  3. Kinship foster parents tend to be older and have lower incomes, poorer health, and less education than non-kin foster parents. They also seem to receive less supervision and fewer services than non-kin carers.
  4. Assuming full-time parenting responsibilities is associated with increased psychological distress in carers.
  5. Older adults can serve as effective adoptive parents but would benefit from pre-adoption and post-adoption services to assist them in preparing for and positively addressing the challenging behaviours exhibited by adopted children.
  6. Where kinship carers take over the care of children on an informal basis their lack of legal rights can create practical difficulties; for example in enrolling the child in school, or getting medical care.
  7. While children in residential care have more mental health problems than those in family-type foster care, those in kinship care have fewer.
  8. In the case of maltreated children, placing them with a kin foster parent is especially advisable.
  9. Kinship care has a protective effect on the early behavioural outcomes for children entering out-of-home care.
  10. The evidence confirms that keeping the children within their extended family reduces the stigma and trauma of separation from parents.
  11. Research indicates that kinship placement is more stable than non-kinship placement and those adolescents in a relative´s care are less likely to have a serious mental health problem.
  12. Children‘s services should separate a carer´s need for support (money and services) from a child´s need for supervision (casework oversight).
  13. Grandparents report that finding information on existing programs can be difficult, especially during a family crisis.

Recommendations

From the research we therefore recommend:

  1. Researchers should pay far greater attention to the health and well-being of grandparents raising grandchildren and the potential health consequences of such care giving.
  2. Support groups should target a range of interventions toward the promotion of healthy behaviour among new grandparent carers.
  3. Service providers should explore how sensitively to support kinship carers‘ mental health and identify local support groups, and recognise that carers may not ask for this support themselves.
  4. Greater attention should be given to interventions aimed to decrease psychological distress and improve the financial resources and physical health of kinship carers.
  5. Services for children in kinship care should be comparable to those in other forms of public care.
  6. Child welfare services should put much greater emphasis on speaking to children and listening; how they feel is fundamental to evaluating foster care. They should also provide specific support and monitoring to kinship carers of children with a background of parental substance misuse or abusive parents.
  7. There is value in developing specific prevention programs targeted to adolescents and their carers to help those children to address their emotions and externalizing behaviours.
  8. Interventions programs should focus not only on behavioural, mental health and family functioning of the children in kinship care, but also on their academic functioning in order to improve their academic skills and, in consequence, the short and long-term outcomes associated with school success.
  9. Risks associated with adolescents in kinship placements suggest the need to provide extra support to these carers as well as developing prevention programs targeting these adolescents and families.
  10. Child welfare service should put much greater emphasis in paving the way for building alliances between parents and foster parents, based on their common responsibility for the child.
  11. Kinship carers should be assessed against their needs for tangible items such as beds, food, and clothing in the initial stages of placement. Child welfare systems should also look at ongoing needs, which may include information regarding case progress and system procedures, respite, day care and counselling for the child.
  12. Child welfare agencies should understand the importance of including the school system as one of the ways to improve the kinship care families‘ support.

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