Vol. 3, No. 1 • Fall 1998

Kinship Care & Kinship Foster Care

Kinship care is a term that applies to two types of situations, neither of which involve foster care board payments. In the first, informal kinship care, a parent is unable to care for a child (e.g., may be entering the hospital or a substance abuse treatment program) and a relative offers to care for the child as an alternative to foster care. There is no DSS involvement. In the second, formal kinship care, DSS is involved. After being referred to a family, DSS makes the decision that a child is too much at risk to remain at home. As in the situation above, relatives step forward and offer to take the child, and DSS finds them to be an appropriate alternative to foster care. DSS may or may not have custody, but there is continued agency supervision.

Kinship foster care is a situation in which someone becomes a licensed foster parent in order to care for a relative's children. In this case, DSS should make efforts to provide or procure reasonable assistance to help families and kin meet assessment and/or licensing standards so they can provide care for the child. Relatives in this position would receive foster care payments for each child in their care, just like any other foster parent. The child is in DSS custody.

Copyright � 2000 Jordan Institute for Families