At times, circumstances occur when children are not able to stay in their homes with their parents (e.g., abuse and neglect, parent’s substance abuse, mental illness, incarceration,) and during these difficult times relatives often step in to provide care—kinship care—for these children. Kinship care is an extremely valuable alternative to traditional foster care in that it offers children strong familial bonds that provide children a sense of positive identity,
belonging and security knowing they are cared for by family members and other adults who love them and whom they love and trust.