Special State and City Efforts

Some jurisdictions have so many children in relative foster homes that they have had to take a good, hard look at the practice. The City of New York and the State of Illinois are two examples. Their experience may help other jurisdictions that are still determining their kinship family policies and regulations.

New York City

New York City, where more than half of all children in foster care live with relatives, established a task force to gather information that would be helpful to agencies when placing children with family members. This is what the task force learned:

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Quality of home/appropriate placement -- The majority of families studied were poor, stable, and hardworking, with family members who cared about one another's welfare. Relatives were more willing than traditional foster parents to care for large sibling groups.
Supervision-- Kinship families had little interaction with agency workers, and caseworkers did not document the agency's participation in planning and implementing parent visits.
Access to services -- Although nearly half the children studied were exposed to drugs in utero, there was no indication they were receiving special attention for developmental problems. Some workers noted that a number of the caregivers were "overburdened," birthparents with social services to help them with their problems.
Permanency planning -- The goal for most of the children was reunification with birthparents, regardless of how unrealistic that plan might be.
Equity -- Kinship providers received a higher stipend than birth families who relied on AFDC. The task force questioned the fairness of that differential.

Illinois

Illinois, which also has more than half its foster care population in relatives' homes, commissioned a study to evaluate agency procedures and make recommendations. The outcome was the "Home of Relatives Reform Plan." These are its goals:

Respect the values, strengths, and traditions of kinship care while assuring the child's safety and security.
Encourage relative placements by not subjecting them to the same licensing standards (income requirements, for example) as unrelated foster parents.
Meet the State's obligation to ensure adequate care and safety of children in its custody.
Expand permanency options for children in kinship care, so thatrelatives may have more decisionmaking authority and children can become a legal part of the extended family structure.

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Credits: Child Welfare Information Gateway (http://www.childwelfare.gov)