Responding to the call: An innovative conceptual model for kinship care assessment

It is generally accepted that kinship care is different to foster care. However, as it has emerged as an increasingly important care option in many jurisdictions, child welfare services deal with it as if it was analogous to traditional foster care. Kinship care systems have been grafted onto foster care systems, and this has caused difficulties for all involved. The assessment of the kinship home poses particular challenges. The provision in many jurisdictions which permits an initial assessment of the kinship home, thereby enabling an emergency placement, is to be welcomed from a child-centred perspective. Nonetheless it also poses challenges, in that agencies frequently fail to meet the designated time-frame for completion of the assessment / approval process. This has given rise to calls for the development of different conceptual models for kinship care service delivery, especially for the difficulty-prone assessment aspect. In response, this article introduces an innovative model of assessment. The model arises from the author’s involvement in research on kinship care in Ireland, and draws on the international literature on the topic. The resultant model offers an approach to assessment that would fit with many legislative, policy and practice contexts and has relevance for kinship care assessments internationally.