The Benefits of Children Living with Relatives

When it comes to the happiness and development of children, the traditional family is often considered the ideal environment. However, life can bring many hard circumstances that can lead to children living with relatives. This situation is known as kinship care. Even though it seems different at first sight, living with relatives has numerous benefits for children - it provides a stable, loving environment that is often preferable to foster care or an institutional environment. In this article, we explore the benefits of children living with relatives and how kinship carers play an important role in creating their future.

Emotional Stability and Security

One of the most important benefits of children living with relatives is the emotional stability and security it provides. Children who are placed in the care of relatives typically experience less trauma compared to those placed in unfamiliar foster care environments. This is mostly because they stay in their known familial environment, surrounded by people they already know and trust. It helps to reduce the feelings of abandonment and anxiety that often come with family separations.

Relatives can offer constant and long-term care that is important for a child's emotional well-being. They will probably keep a connection to the child’s heritage, cultural background, and family traditions, which are also important for a child's identity. This connection can provide a sense of belonging and self-worth, helping the child to go through this hard situation easier.

Strong Family Bonds

Kinship care can strengthen family bonds and give a sense of solidarity. Relatives who take on the role of caregivers often do so out of a deep sense of love and responsibility for the child. This commitment can create a healthy and supportive environment that leads to the child’s development. Also, living with relatives can help save sibling relationships, which are important for emotional support and stability. Children with kinship carer often benefit from the wisdom and experience of their family members. Relatives can be guides and mentors (from their own life experiences), and provide a child with a broader perspective on life.

Continued Education and Community

Another important benefit of living with relatives is the continuity it can provide in a child’s education and community life. When children live with relatives, they are often able to stay in the same school and keep their friendships and social connections. This is important for their academic performance and social development. Disruptions in schooling can have long-lasting negative effects on a child's educational results, leading to gaps in learning and a decline in academic achievement.

Also, staying in the same community allows children to continue participating in different activities and maintain relationships with mentors and peers. These connections are important for their personal growth and development. The familiar environment can also reduce the stress associated with transitions and help children cope better with the changes in their family life.

Financial and Social Benefits

Living with relatives can also offer financial and social benefits. For the state and taxpayers, kinship care is generally less costly than foster care provided by non-relatives. Relatives who take care of children often do so without the same level of financial support that foster parents receive, but they still can provide for the child's needs through their resources. This can ease the financial burden on child welfare systems and allow funds to be allocated to other critical areas. Additionally, kinship care can ease the pressure on the foster care system, which is often overburdened and understaffed. By caring for children within the family, relatives help to reduce the demand for foster homes. This means that children who have no other choice but to be placed in foster care can receive more attention and resources.

Reduced Trauma

Children who live with their relatives in most cases experience lower levels of trauma and better mental health results compared to those placed in non-relative foster care. The familiarity of their surroundings and caregivers plays a big role in reducing the stress and anxiety that comes with being removed from their biological parents. Kinship carers, who have a personal investment in the child's well-being, are often more attuned to their needs and better equipped to provide the emotional support children need for healing.

Research has shown that children living with their relatives are also less likely to develop behavioral problems and are more likely to show positive social behaviors. This can be thanks to the stable and supportive environment that relatives can provide, which is often lacking in institutional or non-relative foster care settings. 

Legal Support for Relatives

Many child welfare and government agencies have created policies and programs to help children's relatives, because of the recognized benefits of kinship care. These programs' goal is to make sure that relatives have the support (financial, legal, and emotional) they need to take care of their children. Support services can include financial assistance, access to healthcare and different educational resources, and counseling services for both children and relatives. Legal frameworks have also changed to recognize and support kinship care arrangements. For example, it is recognized that children do better when they stay with family members, which is why certain countries give priority to kinship caregivers when deciding about child placement. These policies recognize the importance of kinship carers in providing a safe and loving home for children whose biological parents are not able to do so.

Challenges to Consider

While kinship care has so many benefits, it has some challenges too. Relatives who become carers often face financial, emotional, and logistical burdens. Many kinship carers are grandparents or older relatives who are living on fixed incomes and dealing with their health issues. The sudden responsibility of raising a child can have an impact on their finances and quality of life. Also, kinship care can be complex sometimes, especially if the child’s parents are still involved in their life. Carers need to maintain a balance of relationships with the biological parents while providing stable care for the child. This can be emotionally hard sometimes. And of course, in some cases, relatives will need to get legal guardianship or custody to access certain services and make decisions on behalf of the child. This process can be very complicated.

As we can see, children living with relatives enjoy many benefits. They experience emotional stability, continuity in their education, and strong family bonds, as some of the most important benefits. While there are some challenges, these benefits show that kinship care is an effective option for being sure that children grow up in a loving and stable environment.