NSCAW, No. 15: Kinship Caregivers in the Child Welfare System
- Abuse, Neglect, Adoption & Foster Care
- National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being (NSCAW), 1997-2014 | Learn more about this project
- NSCAW: Research Briefs
By giving care to their relatives’ children, kinship caregivers help preserve family ties and provide children with a sense of family support; their care also saves society more than $6.5 billion each year in formal foster care costs. Although kinship caregivers tend to report a deep sense of fulfillment from their caregiver role, this role requires an enormous supply of energy and additional economic resources. Little is known about how these families are functioning and how kinship caregivers are caring for their children. This research brief examines the parenting provided by kinship caregivers to children 10 years old or younger who have been involved in investigations of child maltreatment.