What promotes permanency in child welfare kinship placement?: A mixed
method investigation of the role of service provision to First Nations
and non-First Nations families (2008-2009)
Principal Investigator: Esme Fuller-Thomson, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of TorontoCo-Investigator: Deborah Goodman, Children’s Aid Society of Toronto
Funded by: SSHRC Standard Research Grant
Many provinces and territories are placing children deemed in need of protection with kin, including grandparents, aunts and other relatives. In Ontario, provincial policy promoting kinship care was only enacted in 2007, yet by March 2008 6% of all child welfare wards and 27% of all First Nations children in care were in kinship care. While kinship placements address the foster care bed shortage, offer continuity with respect to cultural and religious traditions and identity, minimize stigma for the child, and are amenable to sibling placement and ongoing contact with the birth parents, child welfare knowledge about effective services lags well behind the significant growth in kinship use.
Informed by an ecological framework, the proposed mixed-method study will examine placement permanency and child outcomes (e.g. safety, educational attainment) for First Nations and non-First Nations children in kinship foster homes and non-relative foster care homes. Our primary focus will be on the role services play in promoting good outcomes. The study has four components: a) assessment of two-year outcomes through reviews of 120 files from a mainstream child welfare agency and 90 files from a First Nations agency; b) an on-line survey of 220 social workers’ perception of service effectiveness; c) four focus groups with social workers serving kinship families; and d) qualitative interviews with 54 kinship caregivers. It is expected that this research will allow us to refine the ecological framework to better fit the realities of First Nations kinship families and to generate policy and program suggestions. As a testament to the urgency of this issue, nine child welfare agencies and a nationally renowned panel of child welfare experts have already pledged their involvement in the study.