RE: Researched reasoning for relative contact

["Ron Kokish" <dka@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I believe Rolf Nilson's original question related to children having contact
with relatives as well as being placed with them. I've seen a fair amount of
research on relative placements - they had better outcomes than stranger
care or group homes.  (Cause-effect not necessarily implied.)  I've not seen
research about children having contact with relatives they are not placed
with.  I'm attaching  somewhat dated information about Kinship placements
(compiled by an MSW student) that we used in court a few years ago, on a
matter perhaps similar to Rolf Nilson's matter. Perhaps it will be useful in
his matter. I've never seen research addressing the impact of relative
contact for children living in stranger care.

I agree that "what is better?" can be addressed empirically and is not the
same as "what is preferred!."  Nonetheless, "what is better?" may include
"what is preferred!" and can more complicated to address by pure empirical
means.  For example, it's likely that, had we researched 5-year
developmental outcomes of school integration coerced by military force we
might have found better outcomes for students in segregated schools.
Nonetheless, we used the National Guard to enforce school desegregation
because we preferred it.  Similarly, many children might have better
(measurable) developmental outcomes if they do not visit with relatives
while living in stranger care, and we might still prefer to maintain family
ties through visits for policy based reasons responsive to widely held
values.


***************************************************************************
 Ron Kokish at Delson-Kokish Associates, P.O. Box 476, Trinidad, CA 95570
        Clinical and Forensic Evaluations, Consultation & Training
                 (707)677-3181-voice   (707)677-0187-fax
             ron@delko.net-email     www.northcoast.com/~dka
***************************************************************************


-----Original Message-----
From: owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu
[mailto:owner-CHILD-MALTREATMENT-RESEARCH-L@cornell.edu]On Behalf Of
John M Price PhD
Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2001 11:02 AM
To: Child Maltreatment Researchers
Subject: Re: Researched reasoning for relative contact


Attachment Converted: "C:\PROGRAM FILES\BEAR ACCESS\WINBA\EUDORA\attach\kinship care info.zip"