Advancing a ‘Kin‐First Culture’: Associations Between Kinship Placement‐Promoting Interventions and Child Protective Services Staff Attitudes

ABSTRACT

Research demonstrates that children in foster care who are placed with kin experience better outcomes than those placed with nonrelatives. Thus, child welfare agencies increasingly aim to cultivate ‘kin‐first’ cultures in which kinship placement is prioritized for youth entering care. However, persistently low kinship placement rates suggest a need to understand the role of child protective services (CPS) staff attitudes. CPS staff attitudes are conceptualized as a core component of a ‘kin‐first’ culture and an important target for interventions seeking to promote kinship placement. However, few studies have examined the effects of kinship placement‐promoting interventions on staff attitudes. This study examined the extent to which the type and number of kinship placement‐promoting interventions used by staff influenced their attitudes towards kinship placement. Using a cross‐sectional survey of 1743 CPS staff and multivariate regression analyses, we assessed the relationship between three interventions and staff attitudes towards kinship placement. Kinship exception request forms ( p  = 0.01), office restructuring ( p  = 0.02) and exposure to two ( p  = 0.04) or three ( p  < 0.001) interventions were associated with more positive perceptions of the office culture around kinship placement, whereas exposure to two interventions ( p  = 0.04) was associated with less positive perceptions of the policy and process around kinship placement. The findings point to promising practice and policy approaches to promote a ‘kin‐first’ culture among child protection professionals in child welfare agencies.