More and more foster children are being placed with relatives. In fact, placement with relatives is now preferred by law. A professor of social work and a graduate assistant examined records in Hennepin County in order to compare placements with relatives and with non-relatives. The research, part of a study begun for the Minnesota Department of Human Services, involved multiple phases and included comparisons of case files as well as interviews with child welfare professionals, birth parents, and foster parents. Placement with kin seems to be much more widely used in the metropolitan area than outstate.
Children are most likely to be placed with grandparents.
Children placed with nonkin are more likely to have been physically abused, while those placed with kin more often suffered from neglect. Foster parents who are not kin receive more services and training as well as more money. These disparities need to be addressed. Improvements in data collection and coordination across county and state lines are also needed. Minnesotans think members of most minority groups are lazier and more prone to violence than Whites.