The gift of kinship foster care

This study examines kinship foster care as a gift relationship. Reunification rates and replacement rates into non-related foster care are analyzed within the statistical framework of competing risks to examine the effects of reciprocity, payment, empathy, and duty on the dynamics of kinship foster care. The study makes use of a unique set of survey data on 983 kinship foster children in Cook County, Illinois. Survey responses are linked to computerized administrative records from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to create a 5-year longitudinal file on placement changes from June 30, 1994 to June 30, 1999. Children whose parents were reported as regularly visiting and working toward regaining custody (reciprocity) were more likely to be reunified and less likely to be replaced than children whose parents were reported as non-cooperative with visitation and service plans. Controlling for reciprocity, children were also less likely to be replaced if caregivers retained the full foster care subsidy (payment), reported a good relationship with the child (empathy), and grew-up in the American South and attended church regularly (duty). The sensitivity of these findings to alternative specifications of the competing risks of foster care replacement and kinship transfers is reported.