View Research by Author - Regan Main

Citation URL: http://www.urban.org/ReganMain

The standard of living for children in kinship care improved significantly between 1997 and 2002, according to analyses of the National Survey of America's Families. The portion of children in kinship care living in poverty steadily declined. Similarly, findings reveal a downward trend in the portion of children in kinship care who did not have health insurance. Both of these trends were more pronounced for children in kinship arrangements that involved a child welfare agency than those that did not, though both groups' improvements were more dramatic than the gains made by children living with their parents.

In 2002, a large percentage of preschool children with employed mothers were in full-time care each week. Forty-two percent of children under age 5 with employed mothers spent at least 35 hours a week in child care. The proportion is even greater (50.6 percent) among children whose mothers worked full-time. These findings reinforce the important role that child care plays in the lives of America's youngest children and the need for policymakers to pay close attention to the quality of that care.

According to data from the 2002 National Survey of America's Families, 405,000 children lived in court-involved kinship foster care in 2002. Fifty percent of children in kinship foster care live in low-income households compared with 24 percent of children living with non-kin foster parents.

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