There is still another study out showing that, if you must place a child in foster care, it's far better to place that child with a relative than with strangers. This is the abstract:
The documented growth of kinship care has boldly thrust this topic into the forefront of child welfare practice. This study compares the permanency, safety, and stability outcomes for a matched group of children placed in kinship care and foster care. After controlling for demographic and placement characteristics, children in kinship care had significantly fewer placements than did children in foster care, and they were less likely to still be in care, have a new allegation of institutional abuse or neglect, be involved with the juvenile justice system, and achieve reunification. These findings call for a greater commitment by child welfare professionals, policy makers, and researchers to make kinship care a viable out-of-home placement option for children and families.
The full study is available here.
Not only does the study show that kinship care is far superior to what should be called stranger care, it also shows that unlicensed kinship care – the kind that the group that so arrogantly calls itself "Children's Rights" is trying to thwart in Michigan – is just as good as the licensed kind. For more on CR's war against grandparents, see Kinship Care and the making of a President.
