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8.11 Well-Being and Kinship Care

When well-being was discussed in earlier parts of this document the focus was on the children placed in foster care. Well-being issues tend to be greater and broader for children placed in kinship care. Research has indicated that kinship caregivers tend to be very different from licensed foster parents on a number of different dimensions. When compared to non-relative caregivers, relative caregivers may be:

• Older, poorer, less educated;
• Female, single parents, work outside the home;
• Care for more people, related on the maternal side; and
• Receiving fewer services.

In addition, they are more likely to:

• Have children remain with them longer;
• Take sibling groups;
• Be from the same community and culture as children placed; and
• Be as safe or safer than non-related care.

The immediate needs of the kinship caregiver tend to be more numerous and certainly more sudden than those of a licensed non-relative foster parents. A child or a sibling group may literally be dropped on a kinship caregiver without any financial, emotional, physical or environmental support or preparation.

Living space, the number of beds, blankets, pillows, food in the home, may all be initially inadequate but are certainly correctable with assistance and time. Day care and respite may also need to be provided. In many ways the physical or environmental needs are the easiest to remedy. The caregiver may also require training, support and resources to meet the child's emotional, medical and educational needs. Workers must be sensitive to the kinship caregiver's needs and be able to sort out which relatives, with support and time, will be able to meet the well-being and long term permanency needs of the child.

In addition to ensuring the caregiver can meet the child's safety needs, the caseworker must address the child's needs for well-being and permanency. The worker and the child welfare system must provide necessary supports to allow the child to be successfully cared for in the relative's home. Such supports may include:

• Financial support
• Medical card and resources
• Day care and respite
• Educational consultation and advocacy
• Consultation around housing and space issues
• Assistance with beds, blankets, pillows
• Information about licensing options
• Provide necessary training around discipline, child development,
• Training specific to special needs a child may have
• Basic information on the child welfare and Juvenile Court systems
• Help in establishing boundaries between children, parents and caregiver
• Transportation assistance
• Training on "safety, well-being and permanency" and the impact of child abuse/neglect

The bonds, attachments, networks, strengths, weaknesses and shared culture are major factors that set kinship care apart from other family foster care. In addition, services and supports offered kinship caregivers are often closer in nature to family preservation services than to traditional foster care services.

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