US: Increase Kinship Care, but not Through Diversion (Opinion)
Imprint – October 21, 2024
The reliance on relatives and other kin by child welfare systems in the United States has grown exponentially in the past 10 years. This is cause for celebration, but not when it’s done in ways that are unjust to everyone involved. In recent years, the practice of kinship diversion has gained traction as a viable alternative to formal foster care within the child welfare system. Proponents of this method argue that they offer a more family-centered approach, keeping children out of state custody and placing them with relatives instead. However, beneath the surface of these practices lies a deep and troubling erosion of family rights and stability, practices that are fundamentally antithetical to the values of family decision-making and legal oversight. That is why critics, including myself, have come to call it “hidden foster care.” To novice practitioners or new child welfare leaders, it may appear that this practice empowers families by keeping children within their extended family network. But family coercion is not family empowerment, and hidden foster care is all too often carried out in a coercive way.