| Despite widespread preferences for kinship care as an alternative to non-relative foster care, limited evidence is available to determine whether kinship care produces superior outcomes for children. Specifically, this dissertation focuses on safety, stability, and well-being.;Paper 1 uses statewide administrative data to estimate the association between placement type and experiencing a maltreatment investigation or substantiation in out-of-home care. Results suggest that informal kinship placements have the highest overall risk of maltreatment, whereas risk of maltreatment in formal kinship care or non-relative foster care is roughly equivalent. However, the monthly risk of maltreatment is lowest in informal kinship care because these placements tend to endure longer before maltreatment occurs.;Paper 2 also uses statewide administrative data, this time to compare stability outcomes for children in either non-relative foster care or formal kinship care. Results suggest that children in non-relative foster care have a higher risk of changing placements than children in formal kinship care. However, the majority of this difference is due to children in non-relative foster care moving to more desirable arrangements, such as kinship care.;Paper 3 uses the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being to estimate the effect of placement type on children's academic, behavioral, and health outcomes. Results suggest that children who spend more time in kinship care experience fewer improvements in reading and cognitive ability scores than children who spend most of their out-of-home care time in non-relative foster care. They also experience somewhat larger behavioral improvements. Effects are concentrated among children who entered care with more behavioral, cognitive, and health deficits. |
