Mental health service utilization and time to care: A comparison of children in traditional foster care and children in kinship care

• Children placed in kinship care had to wait for 2.7 months before receiving mental health services compared to 2.4 months for children in non-kinship care.
• ANOVA results indicate the difference in time was statistically significant, F(1, 9, 408) = 33.33, p < 0.01.
• Children in kinship care were 14% less likely to receive mental health services comparted to children in non-kinship placements.

Existing research indicates that children who are involved with the child welfare system and placed in various forms of out-of-home care experience emotional and behavioral problems. It is also suggested that children placed in kinship care are less likely to receive mental health services than children placed in non-kinship foster homes. This study sought to compare children in non-kinship foster homes to children in kinship care to determine their receipt of mental health services and the time it took for children in kinship care to receive mental health services compared to children in non-kinship foster homes. Using a Cox regression, researchers determined that children in kinship care had a 14% lower likelihood of receipt of mental health services compared to their counterparts in non-kinship foster placements.