Think of Us report that reviews and analyzes existing research about kinship care. This review aims to summarize what we know, identify remaining research gaps, and highlight areas where the social services sector, policymakers, and researchers can focus their efforts to best support children, kinship caregivers, and their families.

ChildTrends brief summarizing the main findings of a study based in North Carolina that reinforced that kinship care settings support the academic well-being of children who do not live with at least one birth or adoptive parent.

This publication developed by ABA Center on Children and the Law, Children’s Defense Fund, and Generations United helps kinship families and the professionals who assist them compare caregiving options. It provides a broad, national overview about the choices and considerations to help caregivers make informed decisions about the pathways to pursue (2022). A webinar of this tool can be viewed here.  

This report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation explores the practice of "kinship diversion" in which children are placed with relatives as an alternative to foster care.  Different perspectives about whether kinship diversion is a good or bad practice are offered.  The report concludes that child welfare agencies should more thoroughly explore their kinship diversion practices to ensure they adequately meet the needs of children, their parents and kinship caregivers (2013).

Use this kinship licensing data collection template to assist in evaluation of your jurisdiction's implementation of new kin-specific licensing standards. The template will open as an editable Excel spreadsheet.