Kinship Care and Permanency

Should kinship care be favored as a form of permanency in and of itself or should it be avoided as a barrier to more binding forms of legal permanency? This question is examined using data from Cook County, Illinois. The study uses event history methods to analyze placement histories for 1992-95 cohorts of 23,685 children and a 1994 matched, cross-sectional sample of 1,910 children. It finds that kin placements are more stable than non-kin placements but that the advantage diminishes with lengthier durations of care. Current trends indicate a greater potential for legal permanency with kin than earlier literature has suggested.