C6 - Kinship Care: Child Welfare Workers’ Perspectives

This workshop will provide findings from a review of the literature on child welfare workers' thoughts, attitudes, and perceptions towards kinship care.  There has been limited attention devoted to this topic.  Kinship research tends to focus on children in care, families, and caregivers.  Understanding that decisions and opinions that impact kinship care are not made in isolation, we will discuss the implications of child welfare worker’s attitudes in kinship advocacy.  Finally, a review of the literature further suggests the need for continuous worker training and education to meet the unique challenges of kinship care families.

Presenter(s): Gardenella Green, Norfolk State University, Richmond, VA