In 1998, approximately 2.13 million children in the United States (or just under 3 percent) were living with relatives without a parent present (U.S. Census Bureau, 1998).5 Between 1983–1985 and 1992–1993, the number of children in such arrangements grew slightly faster than the number of children in the United States as a whole (8.4 percent vs. 6.6 percent) (Harden, Clark, and Maguire, 1997).6 Many researchers have claimed that social ills such as increased homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, juvenile delinquency, AIDS, and child abuse and neglect placed great pressure on the nuclear family during this period and help explain the increase (Hornby and Zeller, 1995; Spar, 1993). Since 1994, however, both the number and the percentage of children in kinship care have decreased. 7
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Public Kinship Care
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Although data are limited, it appears that in 1997, approximately 200,000 children were in the care of foster parents who were related to them (Geen and Clark, 1999).8 Table 1 provides data from 39 States on the number of children in public kinship care on March 31, 1998. Among these States, public kinship care accounted for 29 percent of all children in foster care and 37 percent of children placed in family foster care (as opposed to group homes or institutional care). However, the use of kin as foster parents varies greatly. In 11 of the States providing data, public kinship care accounted for less than one-tenth of all children in foster care, while in four States it accounted for more than one-third. Several of the largest States (California, Florida, Illinois, and New York) used kin as foster parents at relatively high rates and account for almost half of all children in public kinship care (97,504 children).
These figures include only children in State custody. States have not maintained data on the number of relatives who voluntarily care for children who have been reported as abused or neglected. However, data from the National Survey of America’s Families (NSAF) suggest that such voluntary placements are quite common.9 In 1997, social services agencies helped arrange for over 283,000 children to live with relatives outside of the foster care system.
Because States’ data are scarce, it is difficult to estimate how fast public kinship care has increased—but available evidence suggests that it increased substantially during the late 1980s and early 1990s. In the 25 States that do have data, the proportion of children in public kinship care increased from 18 to 31 percent between 1986 and 1990 (see Table 2). Three States (California, Illinois, and New York) accounted for most of this growth. Additional data from these States show that the trend continued through 1993.10 As for the nation as a whole, 37 of 50 States responding to a 1997 Urban Institute survey said that their use of public kinship care increased somewhat (23) or significantly (14) over the past three years (Boots and Geen, 1998).
Table 1. Children in Public Kinship Care on March 31, 1998
State Number As a Percentage of All Childr of All Children in Foster Care As a Percentage of All Childr of All Children in FosterFamilies Total 132,122 29 37 Total of California, Florida, Illinois, New York 97,504 42 52 Alabama 600 13 19 Alaska* 218 16 33 Arizona 1,842 24 36 Arkansas 223 8 11 California 48,485 48 55 Colorado 768 9 14 Connecticut 1,463 24 31 Delaware 184 14 18 Florida 10,799 46 54 Georgia 2,562 23 30 Hawaii 856 35 40 Idaho 81 10 12 Illinois 25,563 50 59 Kansas 62 9 13 Kentucky 165 4 5 Louisiana 647 10 14 Maine 155 5 8 Maryland 3,058 26 32 Massachusetts† 1,929 14 22 Mississippi 434 16 28 Missouri 2,981 25 37 Montana 361 19 22 New Jersey 212 2 3 New Mexico 254 23 28 New York 12,657 25 30 North Carolina 1,784 17 25 North Dakota 83 8 12 Ohio 1,905 13 16 Oklahoma 1,495 24 33 Oregon 1,797 26 30 Pennsylvania 2,084 10 13 South Carolina 136 4 6 Texas 2,080 12 21 Utah 26 1 2 Vermont 135 10 16 Washington 2,828 28 31 West Virginia 129 5 7 Wisconsin 568 6 7 Wyoming 247 25 39 Source: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services analysis of data from the Adoption and Foster
Care Analysis and Reporting System, 1998.
*Children in care as of September 30, 1997 (updated data are not available).
†Children in care as of September 30, 1997 (only limited updates are available).
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Factors Contributing to Increased Use of Public Kinship Care
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States’ increasing use of kin as foster parents is largely due to three changes in their child welfare systems. First, the number of non-kin foster parents has not kept pace with the number of children requiring care. Between 1985 and 1990, the number of children in foster care increased by 47 percent, while the number of available foster families decreased by 27 percent (Spar, 1993). Experts have identified a variety of reasons for this decline, including an increasingly negative public image of foster care, more working women, and high rates of burnout among foster parents, who feel overburdened and underserved by child welfare agencies (Spar, 1993). Moreover, many foster parents have been unwilling to care for the growing number of young children who have been exposed prenatally to drugs or alcohol or who have other special needs (Johnson, 1994).
The second factor contributing to the increase in public kinship care has been a shift in the attitude of child welfare agencies toward more family-centered services. Advocates of kinship care argue that children fare better in their own families and that kin should be given priority when children require placement. Since children are more likely to be familiar with a kin caregiver, many experts suggest that these placements may be less traumatic and disruptive for children than placements with non-kin (Gleeson and Craig, 1994; Johnson, 1994; Zwas, 1993). In addition, experts argue that kinship care provides the best opportunity for a child to maintain a sense of family identity, self-esteem, social status, community ties, and continuity of family relationships (Dore and Kennedy, 1981; Laird, 1979; Pecora et al., 1992).
Table 2. Children in Public Kinship Care in 25 States, 1986–1990
Fiscal States and Illinois Year All States (%) All States Except California, New York and Illinois (%) 986 18 12 987 22 13 988 25 14 989 28 17 990 31 18 Source: Kusserow, 1992.
Third, a number of court rulings have encouraged the use of kin as foster parents (see Chapter 2). In 1979, the Supreme Court ruled that kin are entitled to receive the same Federal financial support for foster care as non-kin foster parents.11 In 1989, the ninth Circuit Court found that children have a constitutional right to associate with relatives and that States’ failure to use kin as foster parents denies them that right.12 In addition, a number of States have faced class-action lawsuits that resulted in settlements that increased the financial support and services offered to public kinship caregivers.
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