A new kinship typology and factors associated with receiving financial assistance in kinship care

Xu, Yanfeng; Bright, Charlotte Lyn; Ahn, Haksoon; Huang, Hui; Shaw, Terry V.

doi:10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104822

Cited by 22 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…For example, as part of the policies on childcare, modalities on parent–caregiver relationships could be spelled out as well as plans for child welfare workers to supervise and regularly monitor the welfare of children in kinship care. Similar to other studies (Montserrat, 2014; Xu, Bright, Ahn, Huang, & Shaw, 2020; Xu, Bright, Barth, & Ahn, 2020), it has been revealed that the training of kinship caregivers is key to ensuring the welfare of children in care. The call by young people in this study to include the training in childcare policies suggests the lack of adequate knowledge and skills among the caregivers in meeting the needs of children in kinship care.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Regulating the traditional kinship care practice in Ghana: Reflections from young people with kinship care experience

Abdullah

Cudjoe

Young

et al. 2021

Child

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Background Kinship care has become a favourable alternative care option for orphans and vulnerable children without adequate parental care in Ghana. However, kinship care practices in Ghana are considered informal cultural practices without formal regulations. The absence of formal regulations could have consequences on the health and development of children due to the lack of proper supervision and empirical assessment of children's needs. In line with recent policy discussions on mechanisms to regulate informal kinship care practices, this study aimed to identify how the State could be involved in improving kinship care experience for children. Methods Qualitative in‐depth interviews were conducted with 22 young persons (aged 18–23) who had been received into kinship care to share their experiences on how the State could be involved in improving kinship care experience for children. Narratives from the young people were analysed following the constructivist grounded theory approach. Results Introduction of a welfare scheme for kinship caregivers, policy on child care, provision of start‐up capital and training for caregivers, were measures suggested by the young people to improve kinship care practice. Providing start‐up capital to kinship caregivers was identified to mitigate caregivers' unemployment challenges, which could have ripple effects on the well‐being of children by escalating caregiver stress. Conclusion The study's findings suggest that the State has a significant role to ensure that caregivers are equipped with the needed resources to provide adequate care for children. Regulating kinship care practices should embrace a strength‐based empowerment model that builds on the capacity of the caregivers to ensure better outcomes for children. Studies that explore the views of policy makers and caregivers in a larger sample may yield promising results to complement the current findings.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 76%

Regulating the traditional kinship care practice in Ghana: Reflections from young people with kinship care experience

Abdullah

Cudjoe

Young

et al. 2021

Child

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“…Across three waves, 68.92%–82.49% of families experienced economic pressure, and less than one third of families received TANF (ranging from 21.69% to 31.11%) and/or FC payments (ranging from 21.29% to 25.49%). We further examined a new typology (i.e., TANF only, FC payments only, TANF + FC, none) based on financial assistance mechanisms (Xu et al, 2020) and found that more than half of families did not receive any financial assistance and less than 15% of families received both TANF and FC payments.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Poverty and Economic Pressure, Financial Assistance, and Children’s Behavioral Health in Kinship Care

Bright

Barth

et al. 2020

Child Maltreat

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About half of kinship families live in poverty, and one third of them receive financial assistance such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and foster care payments. This study selected children who remained in kinship care ( N = 267) for three waves from nationally representative data and examined the longitudinal associations among poverty, economic pressure, financial assistance, and children’s behavioral health outcomes in kinship care. Results from multilevel mixed-effects generalized linear models indicated that having economic pressure and receiving TANF were associated with increases in kinship children’s internalizing and externalizing problems. Receiving TANF exacerbated the effects of poverty on children’s externalizing problems, while receiving TANF buffered the negative effects of economic pressure on children’s internalizing problems. However, internalizing and externalizing problems were in the normal range, on average. The results imply that child welfare workers should assess kinship families’ subjective economic pressure in addition to objective poverty. Furthermore, policy makers should reconsider who receives TANF, how TANF is distributed to kinship families, and whether TANF meets kinship families’ needs.

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“…One of the most significant challenges facing grandparent kinship families is that of economic hardship ( Ehrle & Geen, 2002 ; Xu, Bright, Ahn, Huang, & Shaw, 2020 ). While about half of formal kinship caregivers (primarily grandparents) and about one-third of grandparent caregivers (including informal kinship providers) live below the poverty line ( Baker & Mutchler, 2010 ; Xu, Bright, Ahn et al, 2020 ), this measure does not take into account specific and unique material hardships that may exist regardless of a family’s poverty threshold ( Pilkauskas & Dunifon, 2016 ). For this reason, there is increasing recognition of the need to apply a more comprehensive measure of family economic well-being, such as material hardship ( Pilkauskas & Dunifon, 2016 ), often of specific types, including food and housing insecurity ( Simmons, 2020 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Material hardship and parenting stress among grandparent kinship providers during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of grandparents’ mental health

Levkoff

et al. 2020

Child Abuse & Neglect

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Background The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of many families, including grandparent kinship families, to deal with a health/economic crisis. The fear of COVID-19 plus stay-at-home orders have increased individuals’ psychological distress. Moreover, school closures and homeschooling further increased parenting stress among caregivers. Objectives This study examined the relationship between material hardship and parenting stress among grandparent kinship providers, and assessed grandparents’ mental health as a potential mediator to this relationship during the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. Participants and setting Grandparent kinship providers (N = 362) that took primary care of their grandchildren participated in a cross-sectional survey via Qualtrics Panels in June 2020 in the United States. Methods Descriptive and bivariate analyses, binary logistic regression, and mediation analyses were conducted using STATA 15.0. Results Suffering material hardship was significantly associated with higher odds of experiencing parenting stress among grandparent kinship providers, and grandparents’ mental health partially mediated this association. Conclusions Addressing material and mental health needs among grandparent kinship providers is critical to decreasing their parenting stress.

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A new kinship typology and factors associated with receiving financial assistance in kinship care

Cited by 22 publications

References 36 publications

Regulating the traditional kinship care practice in Ghana: Reflections from young people with kinship care experience

Regulating the traditional kinship care practice in Ghana: Reflections from young people with kinship care experience

Poverty and Economic Pressure, Financial Assistance, and Children’s Behavioral Health in Kinship Care

Material hardship and parenting stress among grandparent kinship providers during the COVID-19 pandemic: The mediating role of grandparents’ mental health

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