Kinship Care

About

ne of the key performance outcomes for the Transformation is to “Increase the number of children placed with relatives”. This measure is specifically referring to the number of children in LDSS custody that are placed with approved relatives as their foster parents. Virginia currently ranks last in the nation regarding relative care with less than 5 percent of children falling into this placement category; the national average is 24 percent. Improving our performance on this measure is critical as children in kinship placements yield the highest permanency rates, shortest length of stay, and best placement stability of all placement types.

Improving performance on this outcome measure cannot be accomplished without addressing kinship care across the entire child welfare continuum. In order to accomplish this, VDSS has developed a strategic work plan that addresses the following areas where kinship care affects the foster care system:

Kinship as diversion;
Kinship as foster care placement;
Kinship as a step down option; and
Kinship as permanence.

Kinship as Diversion

Opportunities for kinship placements begin at the front door of the child welfare system. LDSS have long been investing significant time and effort by informally placing children at risk of entering foster care with relatives. For years, VDSS has been unable to measure the work that takes place on the front end of our system, but a recent study conducted by the Outcome Based Reporting and Analysis Unit (OBRA) has done just that. Preliminary results of this study suggest that LDSS divert anywhere from 2,100 – 3,000 children annually by placing them with relatives. VDSS plans to compile and disseminate a list of best practices observed regarding foster care diversion to relatives.

DFS Diversion Findings

Kinship as Foster Care Placement

As previously referenced, Virginia ranks last in the nation in the percentage of youth placed with approved relatives as foster care providers by nearly twenty percent. In order to improve these numbers every program area within the Division of Family Services (DFS) has adapted their scope of work to address kinship as foster care placement. Examples of DFS initiatives to improve performance of this measure include but are not limited to:

Revise foster care guidance to provide clear direction for diligent search for family and other individuals significant to the child
Develop guidance and provide training around Family Partnership meetings to LDSS to involve family members throughout the life of the case
Revise CPS policy and guidance manual to include identifying and locating kin for all cases determined to be high risk of placement
Study perceived placement barriers for kinship care

Kinship as a "Step Down" Option

Virginia’s Children’s Services Practice Model states that children do best when raised in families. As of January 1, 2010, there were 6,424 children in Virginia’s foster care system with 1,413 in non family based placements (22%). In early 2010, DFS will be developing strategies to assist LDSS in examining children in placements that are not family based. These strategies will focus heavily on the use of data to drive decision making, file mining, and youth and family involvement.

Kinship as Permanence

In May 2009, DFS formed a work group consisting of staff from state office and local departments of social services, private child placing agencies, other state agencies, advocates and care providers. The charge to the work group was to study the feasibility of and provide recommendations regarding instituting Subsidized Custody as a permanency option for children in foster care living with relatives. The work group provided its final report in December 2009 with the recommendation that subsidized custody be included as a permanency option for children in foster care that cannot be reunified with the family from which they were removed and when adoption by a relative has been ruled out. VDSS is currently formalizing strategies to make subsidized custody a permanency option in Virginia.

Subsidized Custody Work Report

Additional Kinship Resources