ABSTRACT
When does kinship care become public care? Addressing this question is important because in many societies today, particularly in Western societies, children who need care away from their biological parents are cared for by the state. In the UK, for instance, local authorities are the primary state agencies charged with the duty to promote their development and welfare. In fulfilling their statutory duty towards these children, as mentioned earlier, local authorities either care for the children in residential settings or recruit and pay foster families to care for them. These children become state responsibility so that local authorities become involved even in the care of those who are cared for by relatives, such as grandparents, an uncle, an aunt or even an older brother or sister. There are other children cared for by relatives whose living arrangements are ‘unknown’ to local authorities. Since local authorities are not ‘aware’ of these arrangements, the caregivers do not receive any support from them, even though they perform the same care duties as professional foster-carers. This gives rise to a dichotomy of kinship foster care: formal (or public) and informal (or private) kinship foster care. This chapter examines the implications of this dichotomy for the children and families involved.
