There are many benefits to placing children with relatives or other kinship caregivers, such as increased stability and safety as well as the ability to maintain family connections and cultural traditions. The following resources review the benefits of kinship care, including State and local examples.
Is Kinship Care Good for Kids? (PDF - 127 KB)
Conway & Hutson (2007)
Cites research that addresses why children who cannot live with their parents benefit from living with grandparents and other family members.
Kin Adopting Kin: In the Best Interest of the Children?
Ryan, Hinterlong, Hegar, & Johnson (2010)
Children and Youth Services Review, 32(12)
Examines how the kinship adoptive experience differs from other adoptive types. The article finds that kin adoptive parents are generally satisfied with the overall adoption and report a positive relationship with the adopted child.
Permanency for Siblings in Kinship Families
Biddle & Bishop (2008)
In Siblings in Adoption and Foster Care: Traumatic Separations and Honored Connections
Discusses the benefits and challenges of kinship care as a permanency plan for siblings in the child welfare system. Openness in kinship adoptions and post-permanency and well-being issues for relative caregivers are also discussed.
Relative Care Creates Powerful Bonds for Children
Highlights the benefits of kinship care for foster children, the challenges faced by relatives caring for children, and the role of grandparents and other relatives in helping court-appointed special advocates and judges determine what is best for a child.
Submission in Response to Senator Gordon Smith's July 26, 2007, Call for Papers to Examine the Needs of Grandparent and Other Relative Caregivers (PDF - 88 KB)
Conway & Hutson (2007)
Shares statistics on the benefits of relative caregivers, discusses challenges States face in kinship care programs, and addresses the benefits of navigator programs to help kinship caregivers access services.
Supporting Kinship Families: What State Policymakers Can Do [Webcast]
National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (2007)
Brings together national experts and State officials to discuss the benefits that kinship care affords children as well as examples of how States are supporting kinship families.
Building Cultural Sensitivity: Debunking Myths About Kinship Care
North Carolina Division of Social Services & the Family and Children's Resource Program (2009)
Children's Services Practice Notes, 14(3)
Highlights the benefits of extended family networks as a protective factor for child abuse and neglect, the happiness of children in kinship care, and the greater stability and safety of children in kinship care.
Kinship Guardianship Assistance: A Permanency Option for New York State (PDF - 676 KB)
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy (2010)
Discusses the benefits of a bill proposed in New York State to provide kinship guardianship assistance to relatives caring for children in the child welfare system, including the financial savings for local departments of social services.
Return on Investment: Casey Family Programs' Kinship and Adoption Resource and Education (KARE) Family Center in Tucson, Arizona
Melrood, Stockert, & Riesgo (2009)
Estimates the KARE Family Center saves $4.2 million each year by preventing youth from entering the foster care system in Pima County, AZ.