Evolutionary Theory and Kinship Foster Care: An Initial Test of Two Hypotheses

Abstract

Public child welfare systems increasingly rely on kin to serve as foster parents. This study tests two hypotheses concerning kinship foster care that have been formulated based on evolutionary theory and behavioral biology research. The first hypothesis is that on average foster children are likely to benefit from higher levels of parental investment and realize better outcomes if placed with kin rather than non-kin foster parents. The second hypothesis is that on average children in kinship foster care placements are likely to benefit from higher levels of parental investment and realize better outcomes if placed with some types of kin than others. The study uses a large administrative data set from an urban county human services system to compare children who had ever lived in kinship foster care with children who had lived only in non-kin foster care on four primary outcome measures. The study’s findings fail to support fully the first hypothesis. While a smaller percentage of children who had ever been placed in kinship foster care received mental health services following their initial kinship placement, a larger percentage of kinship care children received drug and alcohol treatment services following their initial kinship placement. The differences between the two groups concerning the outcomes of juvenile detention and county jail are not statistically significant. The study also uses a small data set from the primary kinship care agency in the project county to compare outcome measures among placements with different types of kin. The study’s findings fail to support the second hypothesis. The comparison of placements with different types of kin reveals no significant differences in the percentage of children who had experienced mental health services, drug and alcohol treatment services, juvenile detention, or county jail following their primary kinship placement. In addition, the study compares the number of placements for children placed in kinship care within the first three months with the number of placements for children placed only in non-kin foster care or in kinship care after three months, finding that kinship placements were less stable than non-kin placements. This finding is inconsistent with prior comparative research on kinship placements. The study’s results provide guidance for further research in this area.

Keywords: children, child welfare, domestic relations, foster care, juveniles, kinship, kinship care, law and society, social welfare