Boyd Webb brings up some pros and cons about placing children in kinship placements. I've mostly heard about the relative positives of kinship care. Boyd Webb points out that children placed in kinship care are less likely to be reunited with biological parents and are less likely to be adopted.
... And the case notes Boyd Webb provides makes me think more carefully about kinship placements -- for instance, the case of Kayla is very sad. Since the grandmother is older than Kayla's biological parents, she may have fewer years during which she can be a strong support for Kayla. Kayla seems to be a child who will need a strong source of support in her life -- it's hard that her grandmother is the person giving her support.
Chapters 9 and 10 of Boyd Webb have several case studies that are so hard to read -- these children have so many challenges. This reminded me of the feeling I had after reading Margaret Talbot's article on Providence Talks.
- after reading the article, the Providence Talks program almost seems like "happy talk," based on a racially-biased sample from the original research in Kansas.
- seems like a program that is just skimming the surface for these children and these families.
- in the end, somewhat useful for the children, but maybe not all the support the families could use. It's like one service provider or researcher noted, "Maybe we should be bringing meals, or doing laundry -- to free up the caregivers so they can spend time talking with their children"
... all in all, the reading this week reminded me how challenging the social work role is, maybe especially with children
... I'm just remembering the poor job the school counselor did, in our school system -- and we're in a 'good' school district ...