Health Outcomes and Family Services in Kinship Care

A 3-year prospective cohort study was conducted on 1308 US children entering out-of-home care following reported maltreatment. It’s results are published in February 2011’s issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

Conclusions are that “[k]inship caregivers received fewer support services than foster caregivers. Children in kinship care faredbetter with behavioral and social skills problems, mental health therapy use, and psychotropic medication use. Adolescents in kinship care may be at higher risk for substance use and pregnancy.”

HealthDay News reports specifically, “adolescents in kinship care had twice the risk of substance abuse (34.6 percent vs. 16.9 percent) and seven times the risk of pregnancy (12.6 percent vs. 1.9 percent).”

“[K]inship caregivers were less than half as likely as foster caregivers to receive any type of financial support, about four times less likely to receive any form of parent training, and seven times less likely to have peer support groups or respite care.”

The abstract can be found here:
Health Outcomes in Kinship Care

One of the HealthDay News publications on this study is here:

Kinship Caregivers Receive Less Than Foster Caregivers
[Business Week 2/7/11]

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