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Identifying and Locating Relatives

Resources and information about identifying and locating relatives to serve as placement resources for children in out-of-home care, including State and local examples.

Identifying and Recruiting Kin to Act as Foster Parents
Malm & Bess (2003)
In Kinship care: Making the Most of a Valuable Resource
View Abstract
Assesses how and when child welfare workers actively seek out relatives to be foster parents, how they choose a relative to act as a foster parent when multiple relatives come forward to care for a child, and the extent to which the desires of the child and the birth parent affect this decision.

Lighting the Fire of Urgency: Reunification of Families in America's Child Welfare System [Webcast]
National Resource Center for Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning (2005)
Presentations on family finding techniques and multidisciplinary approaches in seeking permanence for youth.

Relative Search Best Practice Guide (PDF - 482 KB)
Minnesota Department of Human Services (2005)
Addresses benefits of relative placement, cultural considerations in identifying and finding relatives, and the supervisor's role in supporting relative search efforts.

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State and local examples

Early Search for Relatives and/or Absent Parents, and Resolution of Paternity (PDF - 149 KB)
Child Welfare Research Center
One in a series of brief publications, Promising Practices in Concurrent Planning, from a study of child welfare reforms in six California counties.

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Updated on December 7, 2007