Child welfare professionals' attitudes toward kinship foster care

This article reports on a survey of 261 urban, metropolitan, and rural child welfare professionals regarding their perceptions of kinship foster care. Most professionals had generally positive perceptions of kinship foster parents' motivations and competence, and of kinship foster care. Participants also believed that kinship placements were more difficult to supervise than nonkin placements, and that agencies needed to make changes in practice and policy to accommodate kin. Differences in perceptions by race of the child welfare professionals are included.