title: Family matters? The effect of kinship care on foster care disruption rates.
abstract: Compared with other types of out-of-home care, kinship care is cheap, and offers the child a more familiar environment. However, little is known about the causal effect of kinship care on important outcomes. This study is the first to estimate causal effects of kinship care on placement stability, using full-sample administrative data (N=13,157) and instrumental variables methods. Results show that, in a sample of children of age 0-17 years, kinship care is as stable as other types of care, and only when the kin caregiver is particularly empathic and dutiful does this type of care prove more stable. Thus, in terms of stability, most children do not benefit additionally from being placed with kin.
authors.affiliation: Senior researcher, Rockwool Foundation Research Unit, Sølvgade 10, 2, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: sha@rff.dk.
authors.forename: Signe Hald
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Andersen
authors.affiliation: Senior researcher, Rockwool Foundation Research Unit, Sølvgade 10, 2, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: pf@rff.dk.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fallesen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002648:Child; D002649:Child Abuse; D002669:Child Welfare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003718:Denmark; D004522:Educational Status; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D005581:Foster Home Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009035:Mothers / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012042:Registries; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012947:Social Work
keywords: Instrumental variables methods; Kinship care; Placement stability