For millennia, extended families and kin networks have cared for children whose parents are experiencing challenges or are in need of support.  As part of the changes in child welfare, agencies across Ontario are implementing practices that will increase the utilization of these extended family and kin networks to provide care for vulnerable children. 

Kinship Service (Out of Care) and Kinship Care (In care) have been formalized as two options when considering permanent or long-term homes for children and youth in need of protection.   Ontario’s child welfare agencies will be turning to extended family (kin) or members of the child’s community to provide safe, nurturing, alternate living arrangements for children and young people at risk of neglect or abuse.  This approach builds on existing family and community relationships and facilitates easier and more frequent contact with birth parents.  In the case of children who are already in the care of a child welfare agency, kinship care facilitates earlier placements in permanent or long-term homes.  These options reduce  the stress for children coming into care, maintain family and community ties, and increase the likelihood of the child’s reunification with his/her primary family.  The renewed focus on kinship services is one of the highlights of revised child protection standards for child welfare agencies across Ontario.

Child protection workers begin to search for kin when they determine that a child may need protection or if the child’s family indicates that they need help from their extended family or community in caring for the child.  In situations where admission to care is likely or imminent, finding a safe, nurturing alternate living arrangement for the child with a relative or community member is given priority.  Placement with extended family or community members ensures that the transition into care is made easier for the child.

Kinship Service allows child welfare agencies to provide services that ensure child safety in circumstances where the child is not in the care of an agency and remains within his/her family or community.  Staff thoroughly screen and assess prospective extended family or community caregivers to evaluate the capacity of the family or community member to care for the child in a safe home environment.  Whenever possible, the assessment takes place before the child moves into the kinship home.  It includes completing criminal record and child welfare records checks on any person over the age of 18 living in the home, a personal interview with the proposed caregiver, a private interview with the child (depending on the child’s age and developmental capacity), and a thorough assessment of the home environment.  New provincial kinship service standards are intended to meet the safety needs of children and to promote permanency for children who receive child protection services and are being cared for by members of their extended family or community.  They are intended to result in care and support that is consistent with family and community traditions for children unable to remain with their family because of protection concerns.

Kinship care is provided for children who are in the care of a child welfare agency and are placed with a member of their extended family or community. The standard for assessing and preparing prospective kinship care families is the same as that for evaluating all foster or adoptive caregiver applicants. Families are thoroughly assessed using a process and tools called SAFE (Structured Analysis Family Evaluation) that assists in determining their capacity to meet a child’s needs for safety, well being and permanence.   

Families also participate in an intensive 27-hour preparation program called PRIDE (Parent Resources for Information, Development and Education). Through PRIDE, kinship families learn about issues related to attachment, loss, child development, effective parenting strategies, teamwork and the impact of placement on family relationships.  Kinship care families receive ongoing agency support that enables them to provide safe, nurturing care for a child on either a temporary or long term basis.  When reunification with the child’s primary family is not possible, the kinship family may provide permanent care for the child through adoption or legal custody.