Facts In Action

Many children in the United States no longer live with their biological parents. Often they are placed with family members into kinship care. In 2002, 2.3 million children were living with family members other than their parents. Given these high numbers, it is likely that early educators are seeing an increasing number of these children in the classroom and therefore need to gain an understanding of the challenges faced by children in kinship care. The Urban Institute recently published a report on children in kinship care and the particular obstacles they face.

Kinship care is defined as all children living with relatives without a parent present. In the case of kinship foster care, social services assists in arrangements and the courts appoint the relative as caretaker. Children living in kinship care are most often living with grandparents (59%), while another 19% live with aunts and/or uncles. Most children in kinship care are minorities, with 43% Black (non-Hispanic) and 17% Hispanic. Finally, many living in kinship care are very young — 48% are younger than 10 years old.

The report also examined the major challenges faced by children in kinship care. To start, they have often experienced several large upheavals in their young lives. They likely have had to move more than once, and may have been placed with several relatives before finding suitable placement. In addition, 54% wind up living in families with incomes below 200% of the poverty level, and 55% are taken care of by a single family member. More than half (52%) live with relatives over the age of 50, and nearly a quarter (24%) live with a relative who lacks a high school degree.

Researchers found that one of the biggest challenges facing these children is accessing needed services. Children in state custody are entitled to foster care payments, and are monitored by social services. However, according to the federal system for collecting information on foster children only 131,000 children living with relatives were in state custody as of September 2001. Yet, the National Survey of America's Families revealed that more than 500,000 children in kinship care had had some involvement with social services. This discrepancy points to the possibility that large numbers of abused and neglected children may not be receiving the services they need. This is especially true for children living in private kinship care where the family makes arrangements without court involvment. Because they are not in state custody or involved with social service agencies, they often do not receive much needed assistance.

As the report highlights the growing number of children in kinship care, early educators should keep these issues in mind as they work with the children in their care.

Sources: Children in Kinship Care, The Urban Institute, www.urban.org.

Facts in Action, November/December 2003