ABSTRACT
Traditionally, kinship care has been described as either "informal," meaning that caregiving arrangements occurred without the involvement of a child welfare agency, or "formal," meaning that kin acted as foster parents for children in state custody. Unfortunately, the use of the terms "informal" and "formal" to describe the range of kinship care arrangements may be misleading and inaccurate. For example, referring to kinship caregiving outside the purview of the child welfare system as "informal" may incorrectly imply that such arrangements are short-term or tenuous. Some informal kinship caregivers have legal custody of related children through adoption or guardianship, and others have legal decision-making authority through power of attorney. In short, some informal kinship care arrangements are more formal than others.
