Understanding birthparent involvement in kinship families: Influencing factors and the importance of placement arrangement

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Abstract

Birthparent involvement within informal and formal kinship families is examined using cross-sectional data from a National Institute on Aging funded survey of 351 custodial grandmothers. Specifically the research addressed two questions: What are the patterns of parental involvement in kinship families? What contextual and family factors are related to parental involvement in kinship families? Using cluster analysis, three distinct subgroups of birthparents were identified: those with high involvement (30%); moderate involvement (35%), and low birthparent involvement (35%). Study results indicated that birthparents were twice as likely to be in the high involvement subgroup compared to the moderate and low subgroups if there was an informal kinship arrangement; and they were 39% more likely when there was a closer relationship between the grandmother and birthparent. Implications for professionals working to improve this relationship when possible are discussed.

Introduction

Grandparents often provide support for family members, especially during times of crisis (Connor, 2006). For example, kinship care is the, “full time parenting of children by grandparents and other relatives” (Children's Institute International, 2001, p.2). Grandparents providing kinship care for a period of six months or longer and assuming primary responsibility with or without legal custody are often referred to as custodial grandparents (Hegar & Scannapieco, 2005).

Their type of custodial arrangement also identifies these families. Formal kinship care arrangements refer to those grandparents providing foster care under the supervision of child protective services or a court system, sometimes also referred to as kinship foster care. In contrast, informal kinship care occurs when a grandparent provides care without involvement from child protective services, the court system or any other authority (Children's Institute International; Raphel, 2008).

The United States Census data indicate that the number of children in grandparent maintained households rose from 2.2 million in 1970 to 2.3 million in 1980 and 3.9 million in 1997 (Casper & Bryson, 1998). Data from the 2000 Census indicate a continuation of this trend: 4.5 million children, or 6.3% of all children under age 18, were reported to be living in grandparent-headed households (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000)—representing a 30% increase since 1990. Of these, about a third had no parent in the household, roughly 1.5 million.

Furthermore, most of these grandparent caregivers are raising the children informally, without legal custody or child welfare oversight (Children's Institute International, 2001). Data from the National Survey of America's Families indicate that more children reside with relatives in informal placements than are in formal arrangements (Ehrle, Geen, & Clark, 2001). Evidence from other data sources confirm that the majority of children living with grandparents reside in informal arrangements (Children's Institute International). In fact, it has been reported that 1.8 million children or 2.2% of the population resided in informal kinship arrangements with a grandparent or other relatives as caregivers (Berrick, 1998).

California has one of the largest rates of kinship placements in the nation (U.S. Administration for Children and Families, 2000). According to current census data 294, 969 grandparents in California act as primary caregivers of grandchildren under the age of 18 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2000), although many of these families also have a parent living in the household. Many kinship families in the state reside in Los Angeles. In fact, according to current census data, over 30,500 grandparents care for approximately 108,000 children in Los Angeles (U.S. Census; L.A. Department of Aging, 2003). This study consists of a sample of custodial grandmothers in Los Angeles County and is particularly relevant given the large population of kinship families in Los Angeles.

The growth in prevalence of grandparent care is partly a result of increases in substance abuse during the 1980s and 1990s (Minkler & Roe, 1993). Although caring for grandchildren is an age-old tradition, increases due to parental substance involvement brought greater numbers and new attention to custodial grandparent families. Grandparents have continued to step in informally when parents are unable to assume the parenting role due to substance abuse, illness, mental and emotional problems, child neglect or abuse, incarceration, financial need, and death (Goodman, & Silverstein, 2002).

Within child welfare, these societal shifts were reflected in the dramatic increase in formal kinship care placements due to the rising demand for foster homes, the shrinking supply of traditional foster parents, and financial incentives for relatives (Harden et al., 2004, Kroll, 2007, U.S. Administration for Children and Families, 2000). Furthermore, child welfare policy, including the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act in 1996, required that the states give priority to relatives when placing children in the foster care system (Geen, & Berrick, 2002). More recently, the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997 reaffirmed that relatives should be the first placement choice for abused children and acknowledged the importance of kinship care and the “unique position of kin within the foster care system” (U.S. Administration for Children and Families, 2000, p. 26).

Benefits of children living informally with grandparents and of placement with relatives within child welfare include reduction in the trauma experienced by children when they are unable to remain with their parents (Ehrle & Geen, 2002). Similarly Brown, Cohon, and Wheeler (2002) indicate that kinship care provides children with “consistency and support” and may reduce placement disruption (p.70). Within child welfare, there is some evidence that children in kinship homes fare better than children in non-kinship homes, and considerable evidence that kinship placements are more stable than traditional foster care (Cuddeback, 2004).

There is also concern that due to the diminished physical capacities and limited financial resources of some custodial grandmothers, children may be receiving inadequate care. For children placed formally, there are also concerns that grandmothers may not enforce court orders regarding child placement and visitation limits placed on biological parents. Further evidence suggests that kinship families often do not receive needed social welfare services (Cuddeback, 2004).

Section snippets

Conceptualization of parental involvement in kinship families

Even when the grandparent is primary caregiver, kinship care families are triads consisting of the grandparents, the child, and the birth parents. Each member of the triad has its own unique needs and interests (Goodman, 2003; Green, 2006). The literature posits that birth parents may remain involved in their children's lives after placement with relatives (Geen & Berrick, 2002). This study conceptualized parental involvement in kinship families using a comprehensive, multidimensional model

Research questions

Despite the acknowledgement that parents of children placed in kinship care are involved in their children's lives, few empirical studies, to date, have examined the extent of parental involvement in formal and informal kinship families and the factors that influence it (Dolbin-MacNab & Keiley, 2009). Therefore, the primary purpose of this study was to examine birth parent involvement in kinship care families, both formal and informal. Specifically this research addresses two questions:

  • 1.

    What are

Design

This study was based on cross-sectional data from a National Institute on Aging funded survey conducted between January 1998 and January 2001 in Los Angeles, California.

Sample

A purposive sampling strategy was used, focused on a unique and sometimes hard to locate population—grandmothers rearing their school-aged grandchildren. One child was selected as the focal child for the analysis—the school-aged child from the recruitment school or a randomly selected child for families recruited through the

Description of sample, parents, and grandchildren

Grandmothers' ages ranged from 38 to 83, with an average age of 57 years and 40% were married. In terms of ethnicity, 40% were African-American, 35% White, and 25% Hispanic. Overall, 42% were employed: 28% were working full time, and 14% part time. The average per capita annual income for the sample was $10,037 (see Table 1).

At the time of the study, birthmothers ranged in age from 18 to 49, with an average of 32 years and birthfathers ranged in age from 21 to 58, with an average of 35 years. The

Discussion

Previous studies suggest that birth parents maintain visitation when children are placed with kin through child welfare or informally arrange to live with kin. However literature has failed to address patterns of birthparent involvement or the factors which influence it in families that provide care formally and informally. The results of this study suggest the following regarding birthparent involvement: first, the odds of having high birthparent involvement compared to moderately or low

Conclusion

Similar to other studies (Geen, 2003, Goodman et al., 2004), this study of 361 kinship families in Los Angeles County, found that birth parents remain involved in the lives of their children after placement with custodial grandmothers. The results of this study suggest that birthparents are more involved in the lives of their children in kinship families than previously thought. This study posits a continuum of birth parent involvement from low to moderate to high. Parents with high involvement

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge Lacey Duncan, MSW for her research assistance. This research was funded by a National Institute on Aging (RO1AG14977) grant.

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