ABSTRACT
Kinship care as a distinct research topic emerged in the USA in the 1990s. Prior to that, questions concerning kinship care were thematised in other foster care research. Today, around 30 years later, there is a considerable knowledge base, with many countries represented in the research field. One of the principal ambitions of this research has been to provide knowledge about the outcomes of kinship care, and whether it is more, less or just as effective as growing up in non-kinship care. Such research, here referred to as evaluative, or impact research, is the core of this chapter.
In the first part we provide an insight into the background to the growth of the research and an overview of the best available findings of the effects of kinship care. In the second part we turn to the methodological limitations of this research. We begin by highlighting certain methodological weaknesses that are evident in the individual studies and in literature reviews. We go on to describe the limitations as we see them in terms of the choice of perspective which are reflected in this research. On that basis we argue in favour of the need for alternative and wider perspectives in this research field.
