Competence and African American children in informal kinship care: The role of family

African American children are more likely than any other racial or ethnic group to live in kinship care, yet there is little empirical knowledge available to help understand the attributes of these families that contribute to children's development of competence. This study analyzed existing longitudinal data to explore the family-level factors that promote these children's competence. Hierarchical linear modeling revealed that average quality of the biological mother's relationship with child, the quality of the biological father's relationship with child, and kinship care family functioning predicts children's average competence. Additionally, changes in family resources and family functioning over time are related to corresponding changes in children's competence levels. Results from this study highlight that African American informal kinship care families possess the strengths and resources that contribute to children's competence.     

Examining needs of informal kinship families: Validating the family needs scale

Families who provide informal kinship care are a critical part of child welfare, yet our understanding of their needs is limited due to the challenges of identifying the population. The absence of validated and reliable instruments for kinship families is an additional barrier. This study tests the psychometric properties and construct validity of the Family Needs Scale. A sample of 303 informal kinship families recruited through local child welfare and social services completed the scale as part of a demonstration project. An eight-factor structure emerged from psychometric testing. The FNS is strongly associated with other predictors of the needs such as income and parenting stress, suggesting the instrument's potential as a need assessment tool for kinship families. Further replication and robust analyses of the FNS structure will build stronger support for the scale as a needs assessment for kinship families.     

Adolescent Fathers' Parenting Stress,Social Support,and Involvement with Infants

The present study examined the relationship between concurrent measures of adolescent fathers' parenting stress, social support, and fathers' care‐giving involvement with the 3‐month‐old infant, controlling for fathers' prenatal involvement. The study sample consisted of 50 teenage father–mother dyads. Findings from multivariate regression revealed that fathers' parenting stress was significantly and negatively related to fathers' care giving as perceived by both fathers and mothers. The relationship between support for father involvement provided by the young man's parents and father reported care‐giving involvement approached significance. Social support from both teenagers' parents buffered the negative influence of parenting stress on fathers' involvement with the baby. Policy and intervention implications are discussed.     

KinCareTech: Interactive,Internet-Based Software to Support Kinship Caregivers

Kinship care has advantages over traditional foster care, but kinship caregivers have fewer resources and receive less support or training. Technology may be one way to evaluate needs and provide support. KinCareTech is a collaboratively developed, single-session Internet-based program designed to promote early reading and/or parenting skills through an interactive, caregiver-focused brief intervention. KinCareTech was used by a group of 10 kinship caregivers who then provided quantitative and qualitative feedback regarding the acceptability and helpfulness of the software. Feedback from these kinship caregivers suggested that they saw the software as easy to use, helpful, and relevant to their concerns.     

Kinship Care and Transnational Parenting: The Intersection of Cultural Values and Practices

This study uses ethnographic research to examine the phenomenon of transnational parenting by migrant mothers from the African Caribbean community and their family who care for the mothers’ children. Twenty women’s narratives demonstrate the complexity of relationships between migrant mothers living and working in New York City and their extended family or kinship caretakers who coparent their children in their countries of origin. The study reveals three main factors that contribute to the success of transnational parenting: (1) informal kinship care-child fostering, (2) remittances, and (3) social networks. Policy and practice implications are explored.     

Predictors of parenting among African American single mothers: Personal and contextual factors

Guided by family stress theory, relations among neighborhood stress, maternal psychological functioning, and parenting were examined among 123 low‐income, urban‐dwelling, African American single mothers. Using a longitudinal design, structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesis that neighborhood stress results in poorer parenting over time through its detrimental effect on maternal psychological functioning. Social support from family and friends was examined as a potential moderator of the association between neighborhood stress and parenting behavior. Results indicated that higher levels of neighborhood stress were related to greater psychological distress among mothers, which in turn, was significantly related to less engagement in positive parenting practices approximately 15 months later. A moderating effect emerged for social support, however, such that the proposed model provided a better fit for mothers reporting low levels of perceived social support than for mothers reporting high levels. Implications of the findings for prevention and intervention are discussed.     

Behavior problems in children raised by grandmothers: The role of caregiver distress, family resources, and the home environment

Over the past few decades there has been a dramatic increase in children being raised by grandparents due to a variety of factors including child maltreatment, parental abandonment, substance abuse, and incarceration. The purpose of this study is to examine the extent of behavior problems in children being raised by grandmothers and to determine factors in their current environment that are related to child behavior problems. The study draws on McCubbin's resiliency model of family stress, adjustment and adaptation.The sample comprised of 230 children ages 2 to 16 years who were being raised by grandmothers in parent-absent homes. The families were predominantly low income and African American. The grandmothers ranged in age from 37 to 80 years. Grandmothers responded to several self-report measures pertaining to child behavior problems, family resources, social support, and caregiver psychological distress. Trained research assistants completed a standardized observational measure of the home environment.Results indicated that 31.3% of child participants scored in the clinically elevated range for total behavior problems, with 21.3% and 32.6% scoring in the elevated range for internalizing and externalizing behaviors, respectively. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that of the variables examined, increased psychological distress in grandmothers was most predictive of child behavior problems, followed by less supportive home environments and fewer family resources.Results of the present study underscore the need for interventions that focus on reducing child behavior problems, as well as enhancing the parenting skills of grandmothers raising grandchildren. Findings also support the need for strategies to reduce stress in grandmother caregivers and to improve access to resources needed to provide supportive home environments for their grandchildren.     

Stress,Social Resources,and Depression among Never‐Married and Divorced Rural Mothers*

Abstract While the impact of single parenting on women and children has long been a concern, very little research has focused on single parents living in rural areas. Based on a probability sample of 508 single mothers aged 18–39 living in rural Northern New England, the present study: (1) examines the impact of several domains of stress on mothers' depression, (2) considers potential buffering effects of social resources, and (3) identifies variations in conditions and outcomes for divorced and never‐married mothers. Findings highlight the importance of multiple forms of stress exposure, showing independent significant effects of lifetime adversity, recent life events, and chronic stressors on current depressive symptoms. Although emotional support reduces depression, neither support nor living arrangements moderate the impact of recent and current stressors. Divorced women experience more stress exposure, greater vulnerability to stress, and do not benefit from family support to the same extent as never‐married mothers. Possible differences in the meanings that divorced and never‐married mothers attach to current life circumstances are discussed.     

An effective programme is not enough: a review of factors associated with poor attendance and engagement with parenting support programmes

The provision of parenting support is a key feature of wealthier nations’ health and social care services. However, attendance and engagement by the neediest parents remains poor. Barriers experienced by parents include personal life factors (beliefs, lifestyles and limited resources) and programme‐specific factors (delivery, content and support arrangements). Here we give consideration to these issues, drawing on published reviews of parenting programme effectiveness identified through a comprehensive search of electronic databases. We suggest ways of improving attendance and engagement, by providing programmes as part of a comprehensive framework of family support.     

Immediate and Longer-Term Connections Between Support and Stress in Pregnant/Parenting and Non-Pregnant/Non-Parenting Adolescents

Despite the substantial amount of literature focusing on social support for pregnant and parenting adolescents, few studies have directly examined the relationships among stress and social support across their transition to parenting. The present study investigates the nature of the relationship between stress and support both before and after the birth of the baby. Two groups of adolescent females (one group facing parenthood and one not) completed measures of support and stress across a 7-month period (N = 231) to coincide with the transition to parenthood. In general, support and stress were negatively related when measured concurrently and positively related over time for parenting adolescents but not the non-parenting group. Understanding how long social support impacts stress will enable practitioners to identify when best to provide interventions for pregnant and parenting adolescents.     

Competencies and problem behaviors of children in family foster care: variations by kinship placement status and race

Formal kinship foster care is an increasingly common form of out-of-home placement, and several important distinctions between kinship care and non-relative foster care have been identified. The present study evaluated the behavior of kinship foster children in comparison to non-relative foster children and children in the general population. A geographically and ethnically diverse sample of foster children (N=240) was assessed for competence and problem behaviors using the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL: Achenbach, 1991). Kinship foster children closely resembled children in the general population but differed significantly from their counterparts in non-relative foster care, who consistently scored lower on competence and higher on problem behaviors. Substantial proportions of non-relative foster children were in the clinical range on most CBCL measures, but kinship foster children were no more likely than children from the general population to score above clinical cut-offs. Differences between kinship and non-kinship foster children became less dramatic after accounting for child race and gender, which were both associated with kinship status. Child race had a strong main effect for almost all types of problem behaviors, with children of color showing significantly less problematic behavior. Discussion of these results centers on potential explanations for the observed variations in child behavior by kinship status and race.     

Selected Aspects of Parenting and Children's Social Competence Post-Separation:

The purpose of this study was to assess the moderating effects of child's sex, ace, and family economic hardship on the relationship between (a) residential mother's parenting and frequency of nonresidential father's visitation, and (b) child social competence following marital separation. Dimensions of mother's parenting included loss of time spent with the child since separation, mother's current levels of companionship and coercion, and daily involvement in meaningful activities with the child. Dimensions of children's social competence included dependency, aggression, anxiety/ withdrawal, and productivity. The results indicated that the relationships among mother's parenting, father's visitation, and children's social competence are fairly consistent, regardless of child's age, sex, or level of family economic hardship. The few exceptions are noted and intervention implications are discussed.     

Social capital and child welfare

Social and economic inequalities have risen steeply in the UK over the past 20 years. Children and their families have been particularly disadvantaged by this creeping impoverishment, which is associated with negative effects on parenting capacity and developmental outcomes for children. The social capital of communities, which consists of the cultural resources and inter‐personal relationships between members, is also eroded by inequality and social exclusion. Evidence is presented that demonstrates the way in which children's welfare and family functioning are crucially dependent upon the social support available within local communities. It is argued that building social capital in poor communities is a more effective way of promoting children's welfare than the present emphasis on formal child protection and family support services and efforts to increase parenting skills and responsibilities. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Parenting stress of grandparents and other kin as informal kinship caregivers: A mixed methods study

Informal kinship caregivers provide the majority of out of home care to children who can no longer safely stay with their biological parent. Yet their parenting challenges are understudied since they are often left out from child welfare and other service systems. This mixed methods study, using a survey and focus groups of grandparent and other kin, examined predictors and sources of parenting stress. Quantitative findings suggested that the kinship family's needs and the caregiver's health and emotional well-being adversely affected parenting stress. Grandparent caregivers experienced an elevated level of parenting stress compared to other kin caregivers. Qualitative findings suggested that financial strains, concerns over children's behavior, navigating service systems and difficult relationships with birth parents contributed to their stress. It appeared that grandparent caregivers faced special challenges due to generational gaps, guilt and concerns over birth parents.     

Broadening Our View

Summary

The growth in child welfare caseloads and the increasing use of kinship foster care has raised new questions about effective permanency planning. The majority of children in kinship foster care are children of color and have been less likely to exit the custody of the child welfare system than children placed in traditional foster care. Permanency planning which ensures the long-term protection and well-being of children from diverse cultural backgrounds requires a broad view of family, ongoing striving for cultural competence, collaboration between the formal child welfare system and the kinship systems of children in state custody, and a long-term view of permanency planning and child-rearing that builds on the case-management capacities of kinship networks to support permanent plans, looks beyond the child's exit from state custody, and helps families and larger kinship systems make long-term plans for the protection, permanence, and well-being of children.     

Kinship care and issues in permanency planning

Kinship caregivers are a child-care resource for families experiencing stress or temporary parenting due to illness, incarceration, or death of a parent. This article examines whether and how felt caregiver burden influences the reported propensity of caregivers to want to adopt the children in their care. Kinship caregivers who were enrolled in KinNET completed the survey (N = 102) and the data were entered anonymously into SPSS for analysis. Their mean age was 57.51 years (SD = 10.13), 95% were female (SD = .19), and two-thirds were non-white (SD = .73). Using “likelihood of adopting the child in my care,” as the outcome variable in the linear regression analysis, caregiver’s age, monthly income, and total hours employed were significant predictors. Total pressures, family service needs, and physical problems scales were not statistically significant predictors. The adjusted R square was .439 and significant (.006). Understanding the factors that are predictive of adopting children in kinship care will help programs target services more effectively. Helping kinship caregivers and the children in their care is also important in promoting their health and social well-being.     

Kinship Care: A Cultural Resource of African American and Latino Families Coping with Parental Substance Abuse

SUMMARY

This paper examines kinship care as a cultural resource used by African American and Latino families coping with substance abuse by a family member. Although there is a growing body of literature on kinship care, there are no conceptual or empirical studies that have drawn or built on cultural similarities between these two groups of ethnic minority families. A framework that prioritizes cultural assessment and relevance in using familial and cultural resources is proposed to assist practitioners confronted with the demographic realities of working with social, clinical and ethnocultural complexities when serving ethnic minority families. The framework is based on practice implications raised by recent studies on kinship care and from the perspective of pertinent cross-cultural and anthropological literature.     

Kinship care for children in the UK: messages from research,lessons for policy and practice1

This article presents a comprehensive overview of kinship care, or as it is also known, family and friends care, paying particular attention to the UK child welfare, legal, policy/practice contexts. The aim of the article is to raise awareness, and provide information, about a hitherto largely invisible, yet expanding placement option being widely used in child welfare systems in the UK, in Europe and elsewhere. The article places kinship care within a UK and European child welfare legal context, including the European Convention on Human Rights 1998 [Articles 8 and 14] and European kinship care developments are also highlighted. It contains the main findings of a kinship care research study conducted by the author, based on interviews with children and young people living with kinship carers, as well as with the kinship carers. Following an examination of theoretical and policy issues, the article examines ways forward for developing and supporting kinship care. In the final section, and based on the research findings and literature review, a new paradigm for child welfare is introduced. It is argued that this new paradigm is necessary in order for kinship care practice and policy to develop within a supported and sustainable family support framework.     

Results of an Interdisciplinary Intervention to Improve the Psychosocial Well-Being and Physical Functioning of African American Grandmothers Raising Grandchildren

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the effects of an interdisciplinary intervention designed to enhance family adaptation toward stress of grandmothers raising grandchildren by improving their psychosocial well-being and physical functioning. Participants were predominantly low-income, African American grandmothers raising one or more grandchildren in parent-absent households in an urban area in the southeast. The intervention consisted of social work and nursing case management, participation in monthly support groups, and parenting classes, as well as legal service referrals for those seeking custody or adoption of their grandchildren.

Results indicated that there were statistically significant differences in the direction predicted for psychological distress, family resources, social support, and family coping, but not physical health. These findings suggest that the intervention positively affected the psychosocial well-being of grandmothers raising grandchildren. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed. doi:10.1300/J194v05n03_04     

Social change and the family: Comparative perspectives from the west,China, and South Asia

This paper examines the influence of social and economic change on family structure and relationships: How do such economic and social transformations as industrialization, urbanization, demographic change, the expansion of education, and the long-term growth of income influence the family? We take a comparative and historical approach, reviewing the experiences of three major sociocultural regions: the West, China, and South Asia. Many of the changes that have occurred in family life have been remarkably similar in the three settings—the separation of the workplace from the home, increased training of children in nonfamilial institutions, the development of living arrangements outside the family household, increased access of children to financial and other productive resources, and increased participation by children in the selection of a mate. While the similarities of family change in diverse cultural settings are striking, specific aspects of change have varied across settings because of significant pre-existing differences in family structure, residential patterns of marriage, autonomy of children, and the role of marriage within kinship systems.