On the basis of these characteristics, child welfare researchers and practitioners have inferred that the quality of kinship care may be lower than the quality of care in other foster care settings. For Most Measurements of Quality, Kinship Care and Other Foster Care Were Comparable but Some Safety and Quality Assurance Concerns Remain

Our analysis of the caseworkers’ responses to our survey of open foster care cases in California and Illinois showed that, overall, the quality of both kinship care and other foster care was good and that in most respects the experiences of children in kinship care and in other foster care settings were comparable. However, we also found that while the caseworker in most kinship as well as other foster care cases believed that the caregivers were likely to enforce court-ordered restrictions on parental visits, the proportion of cases in which this view was held was smaller for kinship care cases than other foster care cases. Kinship Care Cases in California Differed From Those in Illinois With Regard to Permanency Goals and Time in Foster Care

Previous research on children who have left the foster care system has shown that children who had been in kinship care were less likely to be adopted and stayed longer in foster care than other foster children. However, we found no consistent pattern between California and Illinois. In California, there was no difference between kinship care and other foster care in the length of time children spent in foster care. Most have shown that children in kinship care were less likely than other foster children to be adopted. The large number of children in kinship care with the goal of long-term foster care is not surprising given that according to California officials, the state had only recently begun to offer adoption and guardianship options specifically designed for a foster child’s relatives. Open Kinship Care Cases in Illinois More Often Had Goals of Adoption or Guardianship and Had Been in the System Less Time Than Other Foster Care Cases

In contrast to our findings in California, data from our survey in Illinois indicated that children in kinship care as of September 15, 1997, were more likely to have the goal of adoption or guardianship than other foster children in the system at that time. According to state officials, Illinois has found that kinship caregivers, contrary to popular belief, are willing to adopt, and Illinois is actively pursuing adoption in these cases. States Are Taking Steps to Help Ensure That Kinship Care Meets the Needs of Foster Children

Since the fall of 1997, both California and Illinois have been instituting new programs and practices that are designed to (1) increase the likelihood that permanent living arrangements will be found for children in kinship care, as well as other foster care settings, who cannot return to their parents and (2) continue to ensure that kinship care is of good quality. Both States Have Initiated Programs to Encourage Kinship Caregivers to Provide Permanent Homes for Foster Children

Both California and Illinois are attempting to help ensure that children in kinship care spend as little time in the foster care system as possible. Parenting-skill assessments by caseworkers in kinship care cases were comparable to parenting-skill assessments by caseworkers in other foster care cases. In care less than 30 days In care 30 days or more (.001)
Total placements (.01)
Percentage of foster children with (.01)
Percentage of foster children who entered care between 1988 and 1990 in California and had placements within 4 years after entry(continued)
Percentage of foster children who had at least one placement before current placement (.001)
Percentage of foster children with different degrees of integration according to foster parents (.001) and social workers (.001)
Children who felt that they were very much part of the foster family Children who felt somewhat like a foster child Children who felt very much like a foster child Average age of foster caregivers in years Foster mothers (.01)
Male foster caregivers (.05)
Female foster caregivers (.05)
Percentage of female foster caregivers 55 years of age or older (.01)
Percentage of primary female foster caregivers by age (.005)
Percentage of married foster caregivers (.05)
Percentage of single foster caregivers (.001)
Percentage of married foster caregivers by genderFoster mothers (.01)
Percentage of foster caregivers who had completed high schoolMean number of years of school completedFoster fathers (.05)
Foster mothers (.001)
Percentage of foster caregivers who did not have a high school diplomaFemale (.001)
Male (.01)
Percentage of primary female foster caregivers with education by category (.00001)
Percentage of foster caregivers in fair or poor healthMale (.001)
Female (.001)
Percentage of foster caregivers whose income was less than $15,000 a yearPercentage of foster families with income by category (.01)
Average annual gross income, including foster care payments (.001)
Average annual income, disregarding money received from either Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)-Family Grant or AFDC–Foster Care Percentage of primary female caregivers with household income by category (.000005)
Percentage of foster caregivers whoHad a fire extinguisher (.001)
Had a complete first aid kit (.001)
Knew cardiopulmonary resuscitation (.001)
Percentage who felt that training adequately prepared them to be a foster parent (.01)
Percentage who received training (.001)
Percentage of foster caregivers who received servicesSpecialized training (.001)
Support group (.001)
Respite care (.001)
Mean number of services foster caregivers received (.001)
Percentage of foster children who were not well known to the caseworker (.0001)
Mean number of caseworkers’ visits with foster children during a 6-month period (.05)
Mean number of caseworkers’ visits with foster children in past 12 monthsAverage number of hours per month foster children spent with a caseworker (.01)
Table III.17: What Required Health Services Did the Foster Child Receive?
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how well kinship care is serving foster children, focusing on the: (1) quality of care that children in kinship care receive compared with that received by other foster children, as measured by a caseworker's assessment of a caregiver's parenting skills, the extent to which a foster child is able to maintain contact with familiar people and surroundings, and a caregiver's willingness to enforce court-ordered restrictions on parental visits; (2) frequency with which state child welfare agencies pursue various permanent living arrangements and the time children in kinship care have spent in the system compared with other foster children; and (3) recent state initiatives intended to help ensure that children in kinship care receive good quality foster care and are placed in permanent homes in a timely manner.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) GAO's survey of open foster care cases in California and Illinois showed that in most respects the quality of both kinship and other foster care was good and that the experiences of children in kinship care and children in other foster care settings were comparable; (2) GAO found that caregivers both in kinship care and in other foster care settings demonstrated good parenting skills overall; (3) GAO also confirmed the belief that there is more continuity in the lives of children in kinship care before and after they enter foster care than there is in other foster children's lives; (4) in cases in which the courts have restricted parental visits with foster children to ensure the children's safety, the proportion of cases in which the caseworker believed that the caregiver was likely to enforce the restrictions was somewhat smaller among kinship care cases than among other foster care cases; (5) some of the standards that California and Illinois use to ensure good quality foster care and the level of support each state provides to foster caregivers are lower for kinship care than other types of foster care; (6) previous research on children who have left foster care has shown that children who had been in kinship care were less likely to be adopted and stayed longer in foster care than other foster children; (7) between California and Illinois, GAO's survey showed no consistent findings regarding the relationship between kinship care and permanency goals or the time foster children had spent in the system; (8) in Illinois, kinship care cases were more likely to have a permanency goal of adoption or guardianship than other foster care cases; (9) Illinois has found that kinship caregivers are willing to adopt, and Illinois is actively pursuing adoption in kinship care cases; (10) in California, kinship care cases were less likely than other foster care cases to have adoption or guardianship as a goal; (11) according to California officials, this may be because, at the time of GAO's survey, the state had only recently begun to offer adoption and guardianship options specifically designed for a foster child's relatives; (12) in California, there was no significant difference between the average length of time that children in kinship care and children in other settings had spent in the system; (13) in Illinois, children in kinship care had spent significantly less time in the system than other foster children; and (14) both California and Illinois are now taking steps to better ensure the good quality of kinship care and to encourage kinship caregivers to provide permanent homes for foster children who cannot return to their parents.