Differences in Academic Trajectories Among Children in Formal and Informal Kinship Care

Background: Children’s academic competence places them on a trajectory for positive outcomes; consequently, children’s academic deficits are risk factors for mental health, substance use, and behaviors problems and delinquency. Unfortunately, many children in out-of-home care (OOHC; i.e., foster, formal kinship, and informal kinship care) are at risk for academic underachievement. Prior research indicates that children in formal kinship care (supervised by the child welfare system) have better academic outcomes than children in non-kin foster care and in some instances their academic functioning is similar to children who are living with at least one of their biological or adoptive parents. However, we have little knowledge about the academic outcomes for children who reside in informal kinship care who account for the majority of children living in kinship care (over 70 percent). The current study is unique because it includes children in informal kinship care, a group that is not supervised by the child welfare system and are often left out of this type of inquiry. The inclusion of this group requires the linkage of academic and child welfare data. The aim of our study is to examine the academic trajectories of children in formal and informal kinship care.

Methods: This study’s sample consists of all children in North Carolina schools who were in grades 3rd to 6th during the school year 2009-10, with a focus on children with a history of OOHC in either foster, formal kinship, or informal kinship settings. These children were followed for 3 academic years. Four longitudinal administrative data sources including education and child welfare data, were merged to create this distinctive sample of 519,306 children. The End of the Grade (EOG) scores in math and reading from 3rd to 8th grades were used as dependent variables. EOG math and reading scores are developmentally scaled, with scores that signify proficiency at grade level rising from one grade to the next. An accelerated cohort design was used to ensure all grades from 3rd to 8th were represented. A repeated measures multilevel model was used to estimate the association between types of kinship care and academic performance.

Results: After controlling for important covariates, findings revealed children whose relative placements are supervised by child welfare have academic outcomes better than children in relative placements that are not supervised by the child welfare system. Specifically, the formal group was advantaged by almost half a point or about 2 months of additional learning in math compared to their peers in informal while there were no statistical differences between placement settings in children’s reading scores.

Implications: Findings that children in formal kinship care outperformed the informal group suggest not only is residing with relatives important to OOCH children’s academic competence, but also the importance of formal resources and support provided to formal kinship care families. Future research is needed to provide a better understanding of the experiences of the informal group. Unlike children in formal kinship care, there is less of an opportunity to assess their needs related to education, health, and well-being.