Kinship Care, Foster Care and Adoption

Overview – Out of Home Care

Out-of-home care encompasses the placements and services provided to children and families when children must be removed from their homes because of child safety concerns, as a result of serious parent-child conflict, or to treat serious physical or behavioral health conditions which cannot be addressed within the family.

Before a decision is made to remove a child, child welfare staff must make reasonable efforts to safely maintain children with their families, including providing necessary supports and services. These services are often called family preservation or in-home services and are provided by child protective services staff, community agencies, or both. Courts must approve all decisions to remove children from their homes to ensure reasonable efforts were made.

Children in out-of-home care may live in a number of possible settings. These include kinship or relatives' homes, family foster homes, treatment foster homes, or group or residential care. Many communities use the phrase "foster care" to refer to this array of placements. In others, "foster care" refers to care in a family home, while "out-of-home care" encompasses all placement options.

While in out-of-home care, children are usually in the legal custody of the State. Shelter and daily care are provided by foster or kinship families or residential/group home staff. These caregivers generally undergo an assessment and licensing or certification process to ensure their suitability as caretakers. Foster and kinship families, if licensed, receive supportive services and monthly payments to assist them in caring for the children.

While in out-of-home care, children and their parents or other family members receive services. These are designed to provide support and safety for the child and to ameliorate the problems that led to the placement. Out-of-home care is intended to be temporary-the goal is to return children home as soon as possible or achieve permanency with another permanent family when this is not possible. Many of the services provided to children in out-of-home care and their families are targeted to achieving the goal of permanency.

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(Children’s Bureau website)

NRC4Tribes Needs Assessment Findings: Kinship, Foster Care and Adoption

Tribal Kinship, Foster Care, and Adoption issues were one of the five overarching themes or topic areas identified through the NRC4Tribes Needs Assessment Findings - Executive Summary and complete NRC4Tribes Needs Assessment Findings. Kinship, Foster Care and Adoption describes the needs of tribal kinship care, foster care, and adoption programs along with funding, recruitment, licensing, and training matters.

The NRC4Tribes Needs Assessment includes a series of specific findings and recommendations concerning Tribal Kinship, Foster Care, and Adoption. The majority of tribes felt that foster care programs should be managed by the tribe in order to keep children in their families and tribal communities and to maintain their connections to tribal culture and tradition. However, as in other areas of tribal child welfare programming, resources for program operations and worker salaries; foster home recruitment; and foster parent subsidies were described as “inadequate.” In addition, rigorous state background checks and strict requirements for housing adequacy make it difficult for some tribal foster care providers to become licensed by the state.

Tribal child welfare programs reported that, although many Native people are willing to take in children (and especially relative children) who need care, they are frequently deterred by the scrutiny and bureaucracy of the licensing process. A strong concern exists on the part of a number of tribes that they cannot meet state and federal policy requirements in regard to adoption, and that some policy regulations might not support the customary adoptions and more lenient time frames for termination of parental rights that they rely on in order to keep families together.

	Kinship Care Resources Informational and educational resources about, and for, kinship care providers for children involved with tribal and state child welfare systems.		NRC4Tribes Technical Assistance Needs Assessment: Tribal Foster Care and Adoption The NRC4Tribes Needs Assessment Findings - Executive Summary and complete NRC4Tribes Needs Assessment Findings include a series of specific findings and recommendations concerning Tribal Foster Care and Adoption.
	Guardianship Resources Informational and educational resources about, and for, guardianship care providers for children involved with tribal and state child welfare systems.		Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) concerning Kinship, Foster Care and Adoption Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) concerning Kinship Care, Foster Care and Adoption, that is, what are the most important issues concerning Tribal Foster Care and Adoption for Tribal Child Welfare Workers.
	Foster Care Resources, including Youth Issues Informational and educational resources for parents, foster parents, and tribal and state/county child welfare agencies.		Fostering Connections website resources concerning Tribal Foster Care and Adoption The www.FosteringConnections.org website is a gathering place of information, training and tools related to furthering the implementation of the Fostering Connections law. Specifically, this site aims to connect implementers with the latest information and the best experts and advocates working on these issues.
	Adoption and Permanency Resources Informational and educational resources for parents, adoptive parents, and tribal/state/county child welfare agencies.		Bureau of Indian Affairs resources concerning Tribal Foster Care and Adoption The Bureau of Indian Affairs in the U.S. Department of the Interior has resources concerning Tribal Foster Care and Adoption including those available through BIA Human Services Division.

Tribal Customary Adoption Resources
Tribal customary adoption is the transfer of custody of a child to adoptive parents without terminating the rights of the birth parents. Informational and educational resources for parents, adoptive parents, tribal courts, and tribal/state/county child welfare agencies.

Child and Family Well-Being Resources
Informational and educational resources regarding child and family healthy functioning and the four basic domains of well-being: cognitive functioning, physical health and development, behavioral/emotional functioning, and social functioning.

National Resource Centers focusing on Foster Care and Adoption
The following National Resource Centers (NRCs) focus upon specific areas of Foster Care and Adoption. The purpose of these NRCs – members of the Children's Bureau T/TA Network - is to build the capacity of State, local, Tribal, and other publicly administered or publicly supported child welfare agencies and family and juvenile courts through the provision of training, technical assistance, research, and consultation on the full array of Federal requirements administered by the Children's Bureau [CB link]. The NRCs have developed a Statement on how the Children's Bureau National Resource Centers (NRCs) work with American Indian/Alaska Native Nations

	National Resource Center for Permanency and Family Connections Provides T/TA and information services to help States through all stages of the CFSRs, emphasizing family-centered principles and practices and helping States build knowledge of foster care issues.
	National Resource Center for Adoption Partners with States, Tribes, and other NRCs to offer support in all phases of the CFSR process, including analyzing adoption and permanency options, exploring systemic factors, increasing cultural competence, and promoting stakeholder involvement.
	National Resource Center for Recruitment and Retention of Foster and Adoptive Parents at AdoptUSKids Provides T/TA to States and Tribes on issues that pertain to the development and implementation of quality recruitment and retention services for foster, adoptive, concurrent, and kinship families.

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