Nationally, more than 2.4 million children are being raised by kin, relatives, or close family friends, without a parent in the household. According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) FY 2022 data, 34% of children in foster care on September 30, 2022, were placed with a relative.
Social science confirms children do best in kinship foster care and family connections are critical to healthy child development and a sense of belonging. Maintaining connections with kin helps preserve children’s cultural identity and relationship to their community. These connections are especially important for youth aging out of care. For a successful life after foster care, older youth need help developing permanent connections to significant adults, knowledge of their family history, and relational as well as legal permanence. Additionally, kinship is a strategy for achieving race equity by honoring tradition of communities of color, helping to limit the trauma of family separation, and decreasing group care placement and overrepresentation of youth of color in group care.
In order to create and support a kin-first culture — a child welfare system that promotes and supports kin placement and the maintenance of connections with kin — all stakeholders must take an active role. As a judge, your role is crucial to ensure those with an important relationship with the child, such as relatives and close family friends, are provided the opportunity to stay involved in the child’s life. For the judge to make informed decisions that best support the family, stakeholders must provide the judge a list of all identified supportive kin, as well as share the efforts made to identify and place children with kin.