Interviews with 207 informal kinship caregivers describe a dynamic process that influences how children come to live with a relative other than their parent. This process involves three overlapping and often simultaneously occurring factors: (1) the reasons the children's parents were unable to care for them; (2) the caregiver's motivation for assuming responsibility for the child; and (3) the pathways or routes that children took to the caregiver's home. Understanding these factors and their mutual and simultaneous influence is important as we shape policies, programs and interventions to support families as they consider whether to care for a relative's child and once they assume this responsibility.

Although a high proportion of foster children receive mental health services, existing research suggests limited accessibility and effectiveness of these services. This paper discusses strategies to develop a model to deliver evidence-based services using the unique opportunities apparent within publicly funded child welfare systems. An ecologically-focused model providing enhanced services in children's homes and schools could capitalize on these opportunities and radically improve access and effectiveness of mental health services for foster children. We present data from four focus groups conducted with foster parents, caseworkers, and therapists to understand the feasibility of implementing this type of service model. Results support the need for services focused on enhancing interactions in children's foster homes and schools, but also suggest that issues related to priorities and primary roles could limit the extent that caseworkers and agency-based mental health providers would follow through with the proposed service model.