Informal and Formal Kinship Care. Volume 1. Narrative Reports

摘要

A growing number of states prefer to place children who have been removed fromtheir homes of origin in the home of a relative. This practice is known as kinship foster care, and is a growing component of family foster care. It comprises between one-third and one-half of all foster care days provided in the states with the largest foster care populations. Many children, however, live with relatives not their parents in an informal relationship. In all, about 2.15 million children lived in the care of relatives without a parent present in 1994. The study uses several data sources to examine the characteristics of informal kinship care arrangements and how they compare with those initiated through or subsidized by the state child welfare system. It considers national patterns, examines living arrangement patterns by state for 1990, compares format and informal kinship care for four states, and uses Illinois data to provide a more focused picture of kinship care. The report finds that: (1) kinship care is more prevalent in the South and in non-metropolitan areas, and for older children; (2) about two-thirds of kinship caregivers are the child's grandparents; about half are currently married, and over 85 percent of single kinship caregivers are women; (3) kinship caregivers tend more often to be currently unmarried, to be less educated, to be poor, and to receive social welfare benefits than live-in parents; (4) nationally, just over 2 percent of children lived with relatives not their parents, this percentage ranges by state from under 1 percent to well over 3 percent; (5) higher levels of kinship care (as well as single mother households) appear to be direct products of higher levels of social disruption and family disorganization; (6) while formal kinship care patterns were roughly similar in the four states examined, the use of informal kinship care varies widely. (Vol. I 80 pages, Vol. II--tables and figures--58 pages plus appendices.)