Children in kinship care: How do they fare?

Children in nonparental care: health and social risks

“…Similarly, in their review of the literature, Vandivere et al (2) found that across studies of grandparents as primary caretakers, children in the care of grandparents without a parent present experience higher rates of asthma, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, behavior problems, depression, and developmental delays/disabilities compared with children living with at least one parent. Likewise, Dubowitz et al (9) conducted chart reviews of children entering kinship care and reported that 90% of those children had at least one health problem, 39% had three or more health problems, and more than half (53%) were in need of medical treatment. The most frequent health issues identified among children entering kinship care were behavior problems, dental problems, asthma, skin conditions, and obesity (9).…”

“…Likewise, Dubowitz et al (9) conducted chart reviews of children entering kinship care and reported that 90% of those children had at least one health problem, 39% had three or more health problems, and more than half (53%) were in need of medical treatment. The most frequent health issues identified among children entering kinship care were behavior problems, dental problems, asthma, skin conditions, and obesity (9). A secondary analysis of data from the National Survey of America's Families indicated that children in kinship care experienced increased emotional problems, poorer health, and physical conditions that limited their abilities more frequently than their peers living with parents (10).…”

Behavioral Problems in Adolescents Raised by Their Grandparents

“…In the study by Dubowitz et al (1994) the results demonstrated that boys have more behavioral problems than girls and that those problems usually increase with age and that did not occur among the girls. The behavioral problems that the boys exhibited were equally external and internal issues.…”

“…Some studies (Dubowitz, Feigelman, Harrington, Starr, Zuravin, & Sawyer, 1994;Dubowitz, Zuravin, Starr, Feigelman, & Harrington, 1993) have found that minors raised by extended family members exhibit more behavioural problems than those not raised by members of the extended family while Keller, Wetherbee, Le Prohn, Payne, Sim, and Lamont (2001) found that they actually exhibit fewer problems of this kind. However, when children raised by members of their own extended family are compared with those raised in foster care or who were adopted by a different family, all of the studies in this review have found that minors raised by their own relatives present fewer behavioural problems than those raised by some other family (Heflinger, Simpkins, & Combs-Orme, 2000;Iglehart, 1994;Keller et al, 2001;Landsverk, Davis, Ganger, Newton, & Johnson, 1996;Starr et al, 1999).…”

“…The variables that were found to be significantly associated with those problems were: the motives behind the parental abandonment, the child's sex, the minor's age and the educational level of their guardians. Later, Dubowitz et al (1994) evaluated the behavioral problems of 288 children raised by members of their extended families between the ages of 4 and 18 years old within the same sample. These results coincided with those of a previous study.…”