Policy analysis of kinship foster care in eleven Western States

Kinship foster care is care by relatives or close family friends. The definition of kin varies from state to state. Some states define kin as relatives and others include close family friends in addition to relatives. There are some concerns about kinship care; however, past research has found benefits from kinship placements for children. Children in kinship care experience fewer placements and they are less likely to come back to the child welfare system once they are reunified with their families than children in other out of-home placements. Because of these findings, federal policies give preference for kinship placements as out-of-home placements over other forms of placements. Court decisions also show preference for kinship placements. Even though states give preference for kinship placements as out-of-home placements, polices regarding kinship foster care differ from state to state. This research examines kinship care polices in eleven western states, compares these polices with Utah policy, and makes recommendations to Utah for better kinship care policy. The data were collected from 11 western states. A website search was done first. The websites I visited included state websites, federal government websites, and websites of organizations that support children and their caregivers. After concluding the internet search, emails were send to states welfare workers to find out the information that was not collected by internet search. A few phone calls were also made to get additional information.