When children cannot live with their parents due to challenging situations, kinship care becomes more than a safety net—it is a lifeline.
Kinship care is one alternative to foster care that instills a stable environment and helps children maintain a sense of identity.
This guide defines and explores kinship care benefits to help you or your loved one confidently navigate this unique child-rearing and caregiving arrangement. Keep reading to learn more!
What is Kinship Care?
Often, parents facing crises (e.g., separation, divorce, battles with addiction, or loss of a loved one) lose their ability to continue providing for their children’s basic needs and care.
Kinship care is a living arrangement in which children who cannot stay with their parents due to crises live with relatives outside their immediate family or with close family friends. Apart from being an alternative to foster care, this avenue offers many unique benefits.
The Benefits of Kinship Care
Provides a Stable Environment
A stable environment is essential for children subject to circumstances beyond their control. Kinship care provides security that other alternatives, such as foster care, might not. For a child who has undergone different levels of trauma, a familiar environment could help provide as little disruption to their day-to-day lives as possible.
Ensuring the child can remain in the same school system or stay involved in extracurricular activities is a small way to make a significant difference in helping them maintain a sense of belonging.
Maintains a Sense of Identity and Security
One of the most significant aspects of kinship care is that it allows children to stay connected with their family, which many become distanced from during these transitional times. Beyond this, kinship care benefits children by maintaining their sense of identity, something vital for a child who has faced such ever-changing circumstances.
As the child’s caregiver, you understand the child’s behaviors, interests, and values, all of which have been shaped by their upbringing. You might have played a role in building these! Simple gestures like keeping their favorite snacks in the pantry or their favorite go-to games in the closet will help them feel comfortable, secure, and in touch with their identity.
From Our Home to Yours
As a grandparent, aunt/uncle, or close friend, your willingness to watch over a loved one’s child during a difficult time will undoubtedly be a huge blessing and impact their story. From our home to yours, we admire people like you!
If you are a loved one or a friend of crisis-stricken parents and need to help them coordinate their child’s kinship care, we’re here to help at the Alabama Free Will Baptist Children’s Home. Please reach out to us today; we are happy to provide you with any information on kinship care benefits or answer your questions!