Kinship care as a child welfare service: The policy debate in an era of welfare reform

The placing of children in state custody in the care of relatives considered to be foster parents has become common practice in child welfare in the past decade. Policymakers and advocates debate whether this formal kinship care has been a cause of dramatically increasing caseloads of children in out-of-home care, or a response to the growth in that population. Within the climate of nationwide welfare reform, the kinship care debate has heated up. This article presents a case study of the development of kinship care policy in Illinois, the origination point for Miller v. Youakim, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the provision of financial support to relatives acting as foster parents. Recent dramatic reform of kinship care policies in Illinois are compared with welfare reform efforts across the country. Implications for kinship care and child welfare policies in the United States are presented.