NCJ Number
132412
Journal
Child Welfare Volume: 70 Issue: 5 Dated: (September/October 1991) Pages: 593-601
Date Published
1991
Length
9 pages
Annotation
Permanency planning for children in kinship foster homes differs sharply from that for children in nonrelative foster homes; the practice of the former has increased rapidly in New York City.
Abstract
A questionnaire was completed by 86 of 106 social workers in the Division of Adoption and Foster Care Services (DAFCS). Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 randomly selected foster parents licensed by the DAFCS. Data were collected also from records of all 95 kinship foster families active in the agency as of April 1985 and from statistics current at that time from the Welfare Management Systems Database. Typically the worker was single, aged 41-50, and had worked for DAFCS for a mean of 12 years. All had prior experience working with kinship foster parents and possessed at least a bachelor's degree; 42 percent had a master's degree in social work. Most (91 percent) kinship foster parents were reluctant to adopt related foster children, 54 percent saying that the child's situation would be no more permanent than it is already. Seventy-six percent of the administrators said that adoption would make the related foster child's situation more permanent; only 40 percent of the caseworkers and 37 percent of supervisors agreed. 11 references (Publisher abstract modified)