Report by the National Conference of State Legislatures highlighting state policies regarding kinship care. The report explains the benefits of kinship care, shares state-by-state data about kinship placement, and gives examples of state laws on strategies inlcuding defining kinship providers, identifying kin and prioritizing kinship placements, reducing red tape for kin-specific licensure, providing supportive services and assistance to kinship caregivers, and ensuring long-term stability. 

A fact sheet prepared by several national nonprofits, including Generations United and ABA Center on Children and the Law. 

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT policy report explores how children and their families are faring during the pandemic. Using census data the authors explore health care, economic well-being and education, and offer recommendations for policymakers. (2020)

2023 study by the University of Illinois School of Social Work Children and Family Research Center that reports findings from interviews with kin caregivers of Black children and youth. The study examines how caregivers and child welfare professionals in Illinois have experienced permanency planning and different permanency options, and their perceptions of racial issues in permanency planning and outcomes. The study found that caregivers who chose guardianship were equally committed to providing permanent support as were those who chose adoption. It also found a need for more systemic and professional capacity for the agency to facilitate substitute care and permanency planning, and a need for more support to kin caregivers.

A one page tip sheet for judges on considerations in cases involving kin, from the ABA Center on Children and the Law, Annie E. Casey Foundation, and NCJFCJ (2016).