Abstract
Researchers found almost unanimous consensus among the administrators, supervisors, workers, judges, and kin interviewed that kinship foster parents receive fewer services for the children in their care than non-kin foster parents despite having greater service needs. The three major reasons kin receive fewer services are: workers offer fewer services to kin than to non-kin foster parents; kin request fewer services from caseworkers; kin face barriers to accessing services. Authors suggest that to improve service access for kin, agencies need to improve training of caseworkers and kinship caregivers, experiment with new approaches to engage kin, and examine policies that may inadvertently deny kin supports.
Research Area:
To reuse content from Urban Institute, visit copyright.com, search for the publications, choose from a list of licenses, and complete the transaction.