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Becoming involved in raising a relative's child: reasons, caregiver motivations and pathways to informal kinship care
Author(s) -
Gleeson James P.,
Wesley Julia M.,
Ellis Raquel,
Seryak Claire,
Talley Gwen Walls,
Robinson Jackie
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
child and family social work
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.912
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1365-2206
pISSN - 1356-7500
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2206.2008.00596.x
Subject(s) - kinship , raising (metalworking) , kinship care , psychological intervention , psychology , child care , developmental psychology , social psychology , nursing , medicine , sociology , anthropology , geometry , mathematics
Interviews with 207 informal kinship caregivers describe a dynamic process that influences how children come to live with a relative other than their parent. This process involves three overlapping and often simultaneously occurring factors: (1) the reasons the children's parents were unable to care for them; (2) the caregiver's motivation for assuming responsibility for the child; and (3) the pathways or routes that children took to the caregiver's home. Understanding these factors and their mutual and simultaneous influence is important as we shape policies, programs and interventions to support families as they consider whether to care for a relative's child and once they assume this responsibility.