Kinship Care, Does Child Placement Matter?

By MarcAnthony Coleman

When a three-year-old child in foster care dies in a car of heatstroke, while in the custody of a contractor authorized by the Alabama Department of Human Resources, alarms should sound.¹ Questions should arise regarding what type of child placement and other factors created the necessity for the child to be transported by a contractor both ways between day care and a visit with his biological father?² Answering these questions should shed light on the fact that child placement matters.³ Vulnerable children, especially those who have been abused and neglected, should not be harmed by the system that was established to protect them.⁴ Inevitably people do make mistakes, but we must prioritize gaining sufficient understanding conducive to developing and implementing systems and protocols which lessen the likelihood of another child suffering due to inadequacies.

Notwithstanding the unfortunate incident noted above as well as the many documented challenges, the welfare/foster care system established in the United States of America has produced some significant positive outcomes as well as encouraging research and experimentation that are positively addressing some of its longstanding issues.⁵Positive improvements, however, should not be a source of complacency but rather a call to continual re-assessments based on the new data points discovered.

Recent research has noted a significant possibility that placement instability tends to cascade the negative consequences of abuse and neglect previously experienced by the child.⁶ Some additional research has shown that separating the child from a mildly abusive home is not necessarily more beneficial to the child than providing assistance to the parents.⁷ Incorporating important discoveries like these into the broader discussions regarding the program's future should lead to changes in the current protocols to more effectively identify and match the child with a home environment that provides the best opportunity to thrive.

While the traditionally understood foster care home, in which the child is placed with state-certified caregivers, continues to have a very important role, historically, placement instability has been a concerning issue. ⁸ Current research and studies are attempting to address this concern, but the foster care system is not limited to this one method of child placement.⁹ There are others, such as kinship care, that can play a more significant role in child placements. Moreover, the process involved in drastically improving outcomes is a complicated task that requires a diverse response due to the diverse situations of each child in need.¹⁰

Abusive, neglectful and/or challenged parents are not a modern invention and prior to the implementation of government intervention, the extended family and friends throughout history would bear the burden of assisting with raising the child to avoid the child being placed in an orphanage.¹¹ Contemporary research and studies have begun to illuminate several benefits that derive from children residing in the homes of near kin. Nevertheless, taking in a child can be overwhelming for both the caretaker and child.¹² Kinship care, as an extension of the foster care system, helps retain many of these benefits, and if properly supported, kinship care can and often does become some of the better possible placement options for the child in need.¹³

Nevertheless, both traditional foster care homes and kinship care placements have unique benefits and justifiable critiques, but this article only focuses on kinship care and the hindrances to kinship care placement.

Kinship Care

As noted above, throughout history in cases of unforeseen circumstances, abuse, and neglect, relatives and family friends were generally the default societal resource filling in the gap.¹⁴ This foundational understanding of the extended family underlies kinship care. Formally endorsed by the American Bar Association in 1999, kinship care is an extension of the foster care system that mirrors the historically understood role of the extended family and friends by placing children with relatives or close family friends.¹⁵

Several benefits naturally flow from being placed with someone closely connected to the biological parents. For example, kinship care placements tend to help maintain connective roots to the biological family, minimize the trauma of separation, enable sibling relationships to be nurtured, and potentially provide an environment in which the child is not searching for answers regarding his familial heritage.¹⁶ However, this close connection does not eliminate the difficulties that come from being separated from the child’s biological parents. Moreover, regardless of the caretaker’s relationship with the biological parents, any conversation regarding the child’s origins will be difficult.¹⁷ But someone with direct knowledge and intimate understanding of the child’s biological parents and the circumstances surrounding their separation will naturally provide a source of credibility superior to someone lacking those characteristics.

Additionally, when compared to being placed with unrelated foster care caretakers, kinship care has been shown to improve behavioral outcomes,  promote continued positive outcomes as adults, reduce the likelihood of the child receiving public assistance, and reduce the likelihood of the child experiencing homelessness or incarceration.¹⁸Furthermore, children placed with an appropriate kin have a more stable home and move much less than those in traditional foster care homes, have better health outcomes, and achieve more academically.¹⁹ Nevertheless, being raised in a nurturing home with the child’s loving biological parents, with sufficient resources and an extended family and friends providing additional support, still produces far better outcomes when compared to the foster care system today.²⁰ But as the data shows, when a loving two-parent home is not available, having the opportunity to be raised by a family with close familial ties can provide several gap filling benefits.²¹

Given that society cannot force all biological parents to have attributes that eliminate all potential cases of abuse and unforeseen circumstances, more research and investment seem to be justified regarding kinship care as well as all other placement tools employed by the welfare/foster care system. Attempting to ignore the plight of this segment of society only tends to create additional burdens on society whether through displays of psychological, occupational, or relational dysfunction when that child becomes an adult, which can lead to increased criminal activity, prison costs, and/or governmental assistance.²²

Challenges

While kinship care has many understood benefits, there are several issues that prevent kinship care from reaching its fullest potential. One of these issues is the identification of appropriate kin, which can require significant resources and extensive vetting.²³ Mere connections to the biological parents alone do not automatically confer on that family a nurturing home, adequate resources, and the absence of abuse.²⁴ Consequently, proper assessment of these variables requires purposeful vetting and follow-up.

Moreover, the pool of potential caretakers may be limited due to insufficient access to or knowledge of the training and resources that are essential to properly caring for an abused child.²⁵ Because of this lack of training, many potential caretakers lack certifications/licensure and the wherewithal to navigate the system and obtain available resources. Furthermore, each state has different legislative language that governs how resources are allocated, and the potential kinship care provider must understand, under local rules, the specific benefits of being licensed, the formality of the placement, and whether the placement is considered diversionary.²⁶ Each of these distinctions plays a significant role in determining the participant’s access to resources.²⁷

As a result of the factors noted above, there is a significant learning curve. And many kinship caretakers who decide to move forward with kinship care placements tend to be older and have significantly less resources to assist in the growth and development of the child as compared to traditional foster care homes, which typically have better access to resources due to better training and prior experience.²⁸

In addition to understanding how to navigate the welfare/foster care system, the kinship caretaker must appreciate that the stated goal of the foster care system is to promote reunification with the biological parents.²⁹ As such, the kinship caretaker must attempt to cultivate an environment in which the biological parents, when warranted, have the ability to be active participants in the child’s life. This act of keeping an “open door” is not an empty symbolic gesture, but, as research has shown, this access may not only promote faster reunification but may also lower youth mental health symptoms.³⁰Each party must understand the long-term potential of the arrangement.  Alternatively, if termination of parental rights is a part of the permanency plan for a child, there should be an awareness of the possibility of adoption.

While the data would indicate that increased implementation of kinship care is justified, the extra burden and limitations regarding access to readily available training create significant barriers that prevent kinship care from truly reaching its potential. Those guardians who volunteer for kinship care are the people who more often than not genuinely are invested in the success of the child as borne out by the statistics. But they are much less likely to seek counsel regarding the financial burden and resources available to mitigate the burdens of providing care.³¹ These factors play a part in why kinship care only represents approximately 35% of the childcare placements in the United States, although this percentage is steadily increasing.³² As of 2023, there was momentum in the federal government to promote kinship care and attempt to minimize some of the issues like creating kin-specific licensing standards.³³ Private organizations are also attempting to address barriers to the continued advancement of kinship care.³⁴

Conclusion

The unfortunate state of humanity today is that there is no shortage of situations in which biological parents, for a myriad of reasons, lack the ability to provide a suitable home for their children. Consequently, large numbers of children are in continual need of caretakers, and our goal as a society should be to develop and cultivate a welfare/foster care system that ensures that the best possible placements and outcomes are achieved. When children are appropriately placed, the instances of neglect and abuse are drastically decreased, and the children are more likely to become productive members of society.³⁵ While some research seems to imply that child placement does not have a significant impact on the children’s outcomes, the vast majority of research literature appears to indicate that child placement decisions matter.³⁶

There is no way to say whether the kind of placement impacted the death of the child mentioned at the opening of this article.  But, overall, the statistics show that the best interests of many foster care children is often better served by being placed with a properly vetted kinship care home. Moreover, potentially kinship foster care in generally could reduce the need to use third party contractors to transport the child, and also could make, as appropriate, facilitating visitation with the biological parents much easier.³⁷ Facilitating the more frequent use of kinship care could, along with related reforms, bring significant improvements to the foster care system. 

[1] See Elizabeth Wolfe, Alabama state contractor arrested after the hot-car death of a toddler she was caring for, police say, CNN (Updated Aug. 1, 2025), https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/01/us/kj-starkes-hot-car-death-alabama-arrest.

[2] See id.

[3] See Herrenkohl EC, et al., The psychosocial consequences of living environment instability on maltreated children, 73 Am. J. of Orthopsychiatry 367, 375-78 (2003).

[4] See generally Child Welfare and Foster Care Statistics, The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Blog (Updated July 27, 2024), https://www.aecf.org/blog/child-welfare-and-foster-care-statistics.

[5] See Sara Tiano, Study Shows Link Between Federal Support and Improved Outcomes After Foster Care, The Imprint(May 23, 2023), https://imprintnews.org/foster-care/study-shows-link-between-federal-support-and-improved-outcomes-after-foster-care/241657; see also Brendan Perry, What the Experts Say: Improving Outcomes for Youth in Foster Care, Wilson Sheehan Lab for Econ. Opportunities (Sep. 21, 2022), https://leo.nd.edu/news/what-the-experts-say-improving-outcomes-for-youth-in-foster-care/.

[6] See Herrenkohl EC, et al., supra note 3; see also Ackerman BP, et al., Maternal relationship instability and the school behavior of children from disadvantaged families, 38 Dev. Psych. 694, 697-704 (2002).

[7] See Joseph J. Doyle, Jr., Child Protection and Child Outcomes: Measuring the Effects of Foster Care, 97 Am. Econ. Rev. 1583, 1607-08 (2007), https://mitsloan.mit.edu/shared/ods/documents?PublicationDocumentID=9316. 

[8] See Nicholas Lovet & Yuhan Xue, Family first or the kindness of strangers? Foster care placements and adult outcomes, 65 Lab. Econ. (2020), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0927537120300440; see also Herrenkohl EC, et al., supra note 3, at 367-69.

[9] See Fong R, et al., Continuity of activities and children well-being for foster care youth. 29 Wm. & Mary L. Rev. 28 Child & Youth Serv. Rev. 1359, 1368 -73 (2006), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0190740906000351; see also Perry, supra note 5.

[10] See Perry, supra note 5.

[11] See What Is Kinship Care?, The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Blog (Updated Jan. 31, 2025), https://www.aecf.org/blog/what-is-kinship-care.

[12] See Sarah Fathallah, et al., Kin, First and Foremost: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Forward for Kinship Care 22; (Think of Us, 2024), https://www.thinkofus.org/case-studies/kin-first-and-foremost-challenges-opportunities-and-the-path-forward-for-kinship-care; See generally Impact of Foster Care, Am. Soc'y for the Positive Care of Child.,  https://americanspcc.org/impact-of-foster-care/ (last visited Aug. 29, 2025); Valiente C, et al., Prediction of children's academic competence from their effortful control, relationships, and classroom participation, 100 J. of Psych. 67, 70-76(2008), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3014585/.

[13] See What is Kinship Care?, supra note 11.

[14] See id.

[15] See Kinship Care Legal Reform, ABA (Nov. 16, 2017), https://www.americanbar.org/groups/public_interest/child_law/resources/attorneys/kinship_care_legalreform/; see also Fathallah, et al., supra note 12; see also Factsheets for Families: Kinship Care and the Child Welfare System, Child Welfare Info. Gateway (May 2022), https://www.childwelfare.gov/resources/kinship-care-and-child-welfare-system/.

[16] See Kinship Care, Child Welfare Info. Gateway , https://www.childwelfare.gov/topics/permanency/kinship-care/?top=123 (last visited Aug. 29, 2025); see also What Is Kinship Care?, supra note 11; see also Fathallah, et al., supra note 12.

[17] See Difficult Conversations with Your Foster Child: Take Me for a Ride, Plummer Youth Promise (July 6, 2016), https://plummeryouthpromise.org/difficult-conversations-foster-child-take-ride/;  Kim Stevens, Difficult Conversations, Ctr. For Adoption Support & Educ. (Oct. 5, 2023), https://adoptionsupport.org/resource/blog/difficult-conversations/.

[18] See What is Kinship Care?, supra note 11.

[19] See Eun Koh, Permanency Outcomes of Children in Kinship and Non-Kinship Foster Care: Testing the External Validity of Kinship Effects, 32 Child. & Youth Services Rev. 389 (2010), https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019074090900276X.; see also What is Kinship Care?, supra note 11.

[20] See Doyle, Jr., supra note 7; see also Impact of Foster Care, supra note 12.

[21] See What Is Kinship Care?, supra note 11; See Marcy Bursac, How to Retain legal Representation for Kinship Caregivers, Fostering Fam. Today (Jan. 29, 2025), https://fosteringfamiliestoday.com/fostering-families-today-feature/how-to-retain-legal-representation-for-kinship-caregivers/.

[22] See Schneider R, et al., What happens to youth removed from parental care?: Health and economic outcomes for women with a history of out-of-home placement, 31 Child. & Youth Serv. Rev. 440, 441-44 (2009).  

[23] See Fathallah, et al., supra note 12, at 28-33; see also Kinship Placement vs Foster Care: Understanding the Differences and Benefits, Alt. Fam. Servs. (May 19, 2024),  https://www.afs4kids.org/blog/kinship-placement-vs-foster-care-understanding-the-differences-and-benefits/.

[24] See Lovet & Xue, supra note 8.

[25] See Fathallah, et al., supra note 12, at 9-13; see also The Omni Family, How Is Being a Foster Parent Different from Raising Your Own Children?, https://theomnifamily.com/how-is-being-a-foster-parent-different-from-raising-your-own-children/; see also Bursac, supra note 21.

[26] See Family Ties: Analysis From a State-By-State Survey of Kinship Care Policies, The Annie E. Casey Foundation: Resources (Mar. 14, 2024), https://www.aecf.org/resources/family-ties; see also Kinship Care vs. Foster Care Benefits, Foster Love: Blog (July 29, 2024), https://fosterlove.com/blog/how-kinship-care-benefits-differ-from-foster-care-benefits/.

[27] See Family Ties: Analysis From a State-By-State Survey of Kinship Care Policies, supra note 26; see also What Is Kinship Care?, supra note 11.

[28] See Fathallah, et al., supra note 12, at 61-65; see also What Is Kinship Care?, supra note 11; see also Kinship Care vs. Foster Care Benefits, supra note 26.

[29] See Lenore M McWey & Ming Cui, More Contact with Biological Parents Predicts Shorter Length of Time in Out of Home Care and Mental Health of Youth in the Child Welfare System, 128 Child Youth Serv. Rev (2021), https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8372933/.

[30] See id.

[31] See Bursac, supra note 21.

[32] See Child Welfare and Foster Care Statistics, supra note 4.

[33] See Fathallah, et al., supra note 12, at 4-5.

[34] Id. at 14-18.

[35] Jed Metzger, Resiliency in Children and Youth in Kinship Care and Family Foster Care, 87 Child Welfare League of Am. 115, 131-35 (2008), https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy.samford.edu/stable/48623140?seq=21.

[36] See Cythia V Healey & Philip A Fisher, Children in Foster Care and the Development of Favorable Outcomes, 33 Child Youth Serv. Rev. 1822–30 (2011),  https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3188952/.

[37] See Amy Holtan, et al., A Comparison of Mental Health Problems in Kinship and Nonkinship Foster Care, 14 Eur. Child & Adolescent Psych. 200, 204-05 (2005), https://www.researchgate.net/publication/7762944_A_comparison_of_mental_health_problems_in_kinship_and_nonkinship_foster_care.