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Advocating for Children in Foster and Kinship Care

Author: Mitchell Rosenwald

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2010-03-11

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0231519354

This book is the first to provide strategies for effective advocacy and placement within the foster care and kinship care systems. It also takes a rare look at the dynamics of the foster and kinship relationship, not just among children and the agency workers and service providers who intervene on their behalf, but also between children and those who take in and care for them as permanency develops. Drawing on their experience interacting with and writing about the institution of foster care, Mitchell Rosenwald and Beth N. Riley have composed a unique text that helps practitioners, foster parents, and relative caregivers realize successful transitions for youth, especially considering the traumas these children may suffer both before and after placement. Advocating for a child's best interests must begin early and remain consistent throughout assignment and adjustment. For practitioners, Rosenwald and Riley emphasize the best techniques for assessing a family's capabilities and for guiding families through the challenges of foster care. Part one details the steps potential foster parents and kinship caregivers must take, with the assistance of practitioners, to prepare themselves for placement. Part two describes tactics for successful advocacy within the court system, social service agencies, schools, and the medical and mental health establishments. Part three describes how to lobby for change at the agency and legislative levels, as well as within a given community. The authors illustrate recommendations through real-life scenarios and devote an entire chapter to brokering positive partnerships among practitioners, families, and other teams working to protect and transition children.

Kinship Foster Care

Author: Rebecca L. Hegar

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 1999

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13: 9780195109405

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KINSHIP FOSTER CARE: POLICY, PRACTICE, AND RESEARCH assembles the thinking and research of experts from several professional fields concerning what has become the fastest growing type of substitute care for children in state custody. The editors have contributed the initial and concluding chapters of the book and the lead chapter in each of its three sections.

Kinship Care

Author: Rob Geen

Publisher: The Urban Insitute

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9780877667186

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Since the early 1980s, states child welfare agencies' use of relatives as foster parents has grown rapidly, yet little information is available on this practice. This lack of information has made it difficult to evaluate how well kinship care ensures children's safety, promotes permanency in their living situation, and enhances their well-being--three basic goals of the child welfare system. Kinship Care: Making the Most of a Valuable Resource sheds light on this changing issue. Using a study involving focus groups of child welfare workers and kinship caregivers, in addition to interviews with local administrators, advocates, and service providers, the authors describe frontline kinship care practices in today's system. They also examine how and when child welfare agencies use kin as foster parents, how their approach to kinship care differs from traditional foster care, and how kinship care practices vary across states. The book also features the experiences of actual kinship foster parents, their challenges, and their interaction with agencies and the courts. Finally, the book provides recommendations for policy development, worker and caregiver training, and issues for further research.

Relatives Raising Children

Author: Joseph Crumbley

Publisher: C W L A Press

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13:

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The rapid growth of kinship foster care--full-time parenting of children by relatives or other adults who have a kinship bond with a child--has caught many child welfare agencies off guard. This monograph presents information needed by professionals, agencies, institutions, communities, and organizations to develop and provide services to kinship caregivers, kinship families, children, and parents. The monograph contains discussions of common clinical issues, suggests intervention strategies, examines kinship care's legal implications, and offers policy and program recommendations. Chapter 1 compares relative or kinship care to traditional family foster care, and outlines the characteristics of kinship care that necessitate changes in outlook and practice. Chapter 2 analyzes the clinical issues that must be considered in serving children, parents, and kinship caregivers. Chapters 3 and 4 provide guidance on child welfare practice with kinship families. Chapter 5 considers the effect of culturally based child-rearing practices, gender roles, and hierarchy of authority on child welfare practice with kinship families, as well as the impact of parental incarceration, substance abuse, and HIV/AIDS. Chapter 6 looks at the legal rights, responsibilities, and status of kinship families, caregivers, parents, and children. Chapter 7 discusses federal and state issues for program and policy development; this chapter also examines the philosophy and values underlying provision of financial support to kinship families, the emerging federal role, state policy directions, and permanency planning. Contains 40 references. (KB)