Kinship caregivers (primarily grandparents raising their grandchildren) are often functioning as a shadow foster care system. We talk with Josh Gupta-Kagan, a Professor of Law at the University of South Carolina School of Law and author of America’s Hidden Foster Care System in the Stanford Law Review, and Karissa Phelps, a Stoneleigh Emerging Leader Fellow at Temple Legal Aid, where she provides legal representation and services to kinship caregivers.

In this episode, we cover:

• In many cases, child protection agencies induce parents to transfer physical custody of their children to kinship caregivers by threatening to place the children in foster care.
• How often does this happen?
• Why do you call this the “hidden” foster care system?
• Generally speaking, don’t we consider it best practice for kids to remain with extended family? So why is this a problem? Is it inherently coercive?
• What are the advantages to encouraging placement with kin before they enter the formal foster care system?
• What are the risks?
• If this transfer takes place outside of the system, how long does it last? How can children go home? Who decides?
• How does this differ from informal kinship care?
• How does The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018 contribute to the “hidden foster care system”?
• Do you see kinship placements increasing?
• What are child welfare agencies doing to support kinship families?
•  Follow the money: Is it less expensive for agencies to place with kin rather than unrelated foster parents?
• How is foster care funded?
• What is the status of kinship navigator programs? 
• How can we best support kinship families?
• What do you see as the biggest challenges to kinship families? 

This podcast is produced  by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them. Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

• Weekly podcasts
• Weekly articles/blog posts
•  Resource pages on all aspects of family building

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