ABSTRACT
There has been a marked change over the last few years in the number of referrals to people's team for children placed with relatives and friends. Over a number of years, people have developed a particular interest in working with this particular group as systemic family therapists. The care of children by their relatives or extended family networks has always existed across cultures and societies. In more recent years it has become an increasingly used placement choice in the United Kingdom for children where there has been a breakdown in parenting and where social services have become involved. Kinship care is often rightly promoted as providing greater continuity of attachments and relationships for children who cannot be cared for by parents. The kinship family is a place where different generations and family relationships coincide in unanticipated combinations. The kinship family is often constructed quickly in response to a crisis.
