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When children are placed in foster care, they are often uprooted from their core relationships.  Connections to their family of origin, when safe, provide a sense of identity and heritage, which contribute to their overall well-being.

Research shows that allowing children to maintain relationships with kin increases their family connectedness. Having this support also benefits academics, behaviors and mental health compared to children placed with non-relatives or kin.

Below we dive into practical ways to ensure children in foster care preserve their identity through connections to their family of origin and culture.   

Understanding and eliminating biases

Negative perceptions around a child’s family of origin and their community can start as early as the moment their race is known to the child welfare system. These biases will usually follow them throughout the case. A study around race and economic status within the child welfare system shows Black families are overrepresented three times more than White families.

How do we start addressing these biases to ensure we are creating a supportive placement for children? It often starts with the language we use. Below are examples of biased comments with recommended responses to help professionals identify and cultivate supportive placements:

• “Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”
  • Which relatives have we spoken with?
  • What are their current circumstances?
• “They didn’t step up when they had the chance.”
  • Were they notified before?
  • What was the context of their inability to serve as a permanent placement and have those circumstances changed?
• “We’ve tried that before.”
  • Remind the child’s child welfare team that circumstances change.
  • Encourage the team to engage appropriate relatives to build a relationship or identify other kin/fictive kin options (rather than just a “yes/no” to being a placement).

Kinship care as the placement provider

Exploring all extended family members or fictive kin as potential caregivers should be a priority. Kinship caregivers allow a child to maintain their sense of belonging within their family.

This process may not be as straightforward as contacting “grandma who lives down the street.” It may require a diligent search through open conversations with the family of origin, a deep dive into case records, utilizing online search tools and talking with the child about who is important and trusted in their life. Remembering that family situations can change over time is essential to find the best support network for the child.

While this comprehensive process can take time, the advantages far outweigh the short-term hurdles.

Child Welfare Information Gateway identified five benefits for placing children into kinship care:

1. Minimizes trauma
2. Preserves cultural identity
3. Increases placement stability
4. Improves behavioral outcomes
5. Promotes sibling ties

Culturally competent support

If kinship care is not a safe option for a child in foster care, equipping foster parents and child welfare professionals to provide culturally competent support can reinforce the child’s sense of identity and self-worth. This support recognizes and celebrates a child’s cultural heritage, which allows them to feel understood and appreciated.

According to the CDC, there are eight principles to ensure health and human services are providing the best care:

1. Define culture broadly.
2. Value clients’ cultural beliefs.
3. Recognize complexity in language interpretation.
4. Facilitate learning between providers and communities.
5. Involve the community in defining and addressing service needs.
6. Collaborate with other agencies.
7. Professionalize staff hiring and training.
8. Institutionalize cultural competence.

Anne, an adoption professional from South Dakota, shared how she worked to achieve legal permanency for an Indigenous youth while maintaining the child’s identity and connection to the tribe. She has found that the child-focused recruitment model exemplifies this core need to ensure the child’s identity. Watch a video to hear more about Anne’s experience.

There is a growing recognition in child welfare of the importance of maintaining a child’s connection to their family of origin and culture — but there is still a long way to go. Public perception can continue to change through sharing stories and statistics that highlight the positive impact of kinship care and maintaining family connections. In turn, building awareness and providing resources for child welfare professionals around this issue will cultivate a system that puts a larger emphasis on children’s well-being — creating the foundation for a brighter future.

Explore more insights and resources on the Foundation’s Supporting Child Welfare Professionals page.