Contact between parents and children in care is a contested area. Parental contact is recognized to be important, yet may present protective issues; in the kinship care environment, it brings the particular challenges of complex family relationships. Seeking the parents' perspective in a child protection context is difficult and therefore under‐researched. This paper describes a nested study within an Australian research project on family contact in kinship care in which the perspectives of 18 mothers and 2 fathers were sought via in‐depth interviews. Mothers and fathers described strong feelings of disempowerment in the context both of their family and the child protection system. The relationship between parent and caregiver emerged as a significant issue. All of the parents wished to remain in contact with their children in a meaningful way, whether or not they were likely to resume their children's care; however, contact arrangements presented many difficulties for them. Mothers articulated the need for services that are more empowering and respectful, rather than oriented towards them as failed parents. In order to build appropriate models of support and intervention, we argue for a more inclusive conceptual frame for family life that gives greater recognition to the role of non‐custodial parents in the lives of their children.

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Kinship care has been growing rapidly across the English-speaking world over the last decade. While family contact is an identified right of children removed from their families and maintains important relationships, contact with parents where there has been child abuse and neglect remains contentious. The evidence base in relation to family contact in kinship care is limited. Therefore, this article presents the current state of knowledge in the form of a narrative review of qualitative and quantitative research. Contradictory theoretical orientations are outlined together with the limits they impose on the development and application of knowledge. While the complexity of parental contact is confirmed, a consistent finding is that kinship care provides children with strong family networks including sustained relationships with parents, siblings, and extended family, and maintenance of children's culture and identity. Suggestions for the development of the research agenda are made, together with implications for policy and practice.

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A B S T R AC TUnderstanding the practices which support the best interests of infants when placed in out-of-home care in the first year of life is a significant challenge. A study based in Victoria, Australia, explored the practice by the Children's Court of ordering high-frequency contact (4-7 days a week) with the infant's mother and father when they are placed in care in the first year of life. A literature review revealed little attention to the issue of frequency of family contact for infants. An audit of case files of all infants in care in mid-2007 showed that at 1 year follow-up, there was no difference in the reunification rate for children with a period of high-frequency contact and those with less contact with their mothers and fathers. Focus groups revealed deep divisions of opinion about high-frequency family contact which are played out in the adversarial Children's Court system in Victoria. The study highlights the complexity of understanding and supporting the attachment relationships at this critical period in the infant's life.

A B S T R AC TContact with family for children in care is identified as a right under the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. However, such contact often presents challenges because of the protective concerns that have led to care arrangements being made. The Family Links: Kinship Care and Family Contact research study explored the nature and extent of family contact in kinship care, with a particular focus on the circumstances that create positive contact and foster family relationships. Findings included evidence of a large proportion of parental contact that was negatively affecting children's wellbeing, and was sometimes unsafe. By contrast, the frequent contact that children were enjoying with their siblings and wider family was reported to be mostly positive and supportive. Kinship carers described a range of services needed to facilitate more positive parental contact and to enable children to keep contact with significant family members.

Kinship care as a form of protective care in Australia has grown considerably over the past decade. The University of Melbourne Family Links: Kinship Care and Family Contact research project comprised a survey of kinship carers and consultations with key stakeholders. Given the significant over-representation of Indigenous children in kinship care arrangements, the project included a nested study of Indigenous kinship care. Research participants stressed the imperative for Indigenous children to be connected to family, community and culture. However, survey responses indicated that in many cases, family and cultural connections were not being assisted by cultural support planning. Indigenous caseworkers described the complexities of facilitating family contact, highlighting good practice as well as dilemmas and shortcomings in culturally sensitive practice. There was much evidence of the straitened circumstances of Indigenous kinship carers and unmet support needs among carers, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous. Suggestions are made about ways in which children in kinship care might be better supported to maintain their family relationships.

Young kinship carers tend to be overlooked in kinship care policy and practice. This Australian research project explored the prevalence of kinship care households in Australia, with a particular focus on households headed by young kinship carers. Census data were utilized to explore the number of kinship care households across the carer age spectrum and some of their characteristics, including households with Indigenous carers and carers with a culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) identity. Characteristics of households headed by carers aged 16-30 years were explored in some detail, and comparisons made with young parents. The data pointed to particular challenges for young kinship carers in relation to post-secondary education, employment and income security. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.