GROWTH IN KIN FOSTER CARE
Is the use of kin foster care growing in your country, state, province or territory? And if so, why?
In New Zealand, Australia and the United States in particular, kin foster care has long been an important part of the out-of-home care system (OOHC). However, over recent years we have seen a significant growth of kin care in these and other Anglo-American jurisdictions including the four countries that make up the United Kingdom; kin foster care has also become more established in some other northern European countries. In both New Zealand and Australia, kin foster care is now the largest form of OOHC.
As I see it, there are six primary reasons, combinations of which will vary across different jurisdictions, as follows:
Best interests of a child: Changing professional views on what the best interests of a child looks like, with more attention being paid to cultural, family and community needs. An individual prospective kin carer, and particularly so if there is an existing positive relationship, may now more likely be seen as the best placement for an individual child in circumstances that may have been viewed differently a decade or two ago.
Shortages of non-kin foster carers: Due to ongoing demographic and social changes over the last 30+ years, the pool of people with the motivation and the capability to undertake non-kin foster care has simply diminished. This is most apparent in our major cities.
Concerns about non-kin foster care: There are legitimate concerns about the quality and oversight of some non-kin foster care provision and the capability and capacity of the system to deliver stability, and sufficient meaningful and positive change in the lives of children. As well as commentators, politicians, media organisations and professionals, such concerns will also be shared by prospective kin carers.
Better systems: Over the years some organisations have got better at valuing, engaging, assessing and providing support in ways that better suit, kin and prospective kin, foster carers.
Lower costs: The provision of kin foster care generally cost significantly less than non-kin foster care, although with better systems as above, in some organisations that gap has likely narrowed or potentially closed altogether.
Legal and ideological: In many jurisdiction it is now a legal requirement to consider kin over non-kin when a child needs to come into out-of-home care. This is perhaps most clearly apparent in countries with indigenous populations and strong recognition of rights under the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (2007) and associated domestic legislation. However, the promotion of kin foster care has also been driven in some jurisdictions in order to better address the needs to minority ethnic children, and/or in others to limit the government’s involvement in family life.
One positive implication of the growth of kin care for me is, with sound placement decisions, the potential to reduce the number of children remaining long-term in the OOHC system (or in some instances even coming into OOHC at all). However, some anecdotal evidence would suggest that one unintended consequence of the growth of kin foster care is that it is contributing, alongside other factors, to:
more pressure is being placed on a smaller and more geographically dispersed pool of non-kin foster carers to each take more children with particularly complex needs and challenging behaviour and/or
more children having to go into emergency placements in motels, hotels and caravans because there is not a sufficient range of non-kin foster carers available to meet the needs of children in the area.
Are you seeing any other effects or unintended consequences around the growth of kin foster care, whether positive or negative? I’d love to hear your thoughts.