Family training
How Many Children Are in Kinship Foster Care?
In contrast to the 2002 NSAF estimate of 405,000 children in kinship foster care, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), the federal system for collecting data from states on the number of children in foster care, estimates that approximately 131,000 children lived in kinship foster care in September 2001. The federal estimate counts only those children who are also in the custody of the state, while the NSAF estimate includes all children for whom a court has made a relative responsible
DATA AT A GLANCE
405,000 CHILDREN LIVED IN COURT-INVOLVED KINSHIP FOSTER CARE IN 2002.
50 PERCENT OF CHILDREN IN KINSHIP FOSTER CARE LIVE IN LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS COMPARED WITH 24 PERCENT OF CHILDREN LIVING WITH NON-KIN FOSTER PARENTS.
In many states, the child welfare agency may, under certain circumstances, help arrange for a relative to care for a child without involving the court. Relatives may agree to care for children before a court becomes involved to avoid further entanglement with the child welfare system or having custody of the child taken from the parent. When these children are included, the NSAF estimate of the kinship foster care population rises to 542,000 children in 2002.
Hardships and Services
Children in kinship foster care face substantial hardshipseven greater than the hardships of children in foster care with nonrelatives. Children in court-involved kinship foster care are more than twice as likely as children living with non-kin foster parents to live in families with incomes below 200 percent of the federal poverty thresholds (50.2 percent versus 23.8 percent, as shown in figure 2). They are also more than twice as likely to live with a single caregiver (55.1 percent versus 27.3 percent). Differences in the shares of children who live with older or less-educated caregivers are not statistically significant.
Child welfare policies and services are generally directed to children in state custody. Yet, as the difference between the NSAF and AFCARS estimates show, most children in kinship foster care are not in state custody. Only children in state custody are eligible for federally reimbursed foster care payments. Moreover, child welfare agencies only have to oversee cases of children in state custody. For example, in cases where the court is involved but the state does not take custody, the kin caregiver is not required to become a licensed foster parent. This situation could jeopardize the child's safety if living conditions are not assessed carefully. Similarly, children who are not in state custody typically do not receive permanency planning services to help reunite them with their parents or find them an adoptive home. Finally, children placed by the child welfare agency without court involvement often are not monitored as frequently, which could also jeopardize their safety.
Discussion
Many abused and neglected children today are placed with relatives rather than in traditional non-kin foster homes. Experts believe there are substantial benefits to placing children separated from their parents with relatives rather than with unrelated foster parents. Relatives can provide family support and frequent contact with birth parents and siblings (Chipungu et al. 1998; Dubowitz et al. 1994). In fact, relatives are the preferred placement option of child welfare agencies, and placements with relatives have become more common than non-kin foster placements in many states.
Kinship foster families, however, often face hardships that can make caring for abused or neglected children difficult. Fewer than half the children in kinship foster care are in state custody, to which receipt of foster care payments and further monitoring by the child welfare agency are generally tied. Many children in kinship foster care, therefore, may not be receiving the services needed to ensure the safety of their placements.
About 5.5 million children in American are being raised by grandparents. That is1 out of every 10 children under 18 in American is raised in a grandparent-headed household.
