Pittsburgh

I was a teenager in the care of loving fictive kin when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1979 that kinship care is an appropriate child welfare response, and that relatives could not be discriminated against when they meet the same licensing standards as non-kin foster parents.

The scene unfolding on the United States-Mexico border continues to be tough to watch. Even as immigration policies shift, it remains unclear how the more than 2,000 children wrenched from their parents and swept into warehouses, cages and chaos will be reunited with family.

As jurisdictions across the country scramble to find enough foster homes, one Pennsylvania county has found success by relying on relative caregivers. In Allegheny County, home to the Pittsburgh metropolitan area, a unique partnership with a private agency has led to a special emphasis on placing children with family or close family friends, yielding benefits across the child protective services system.

As The Imprint has been reporting over the past two years, various jurisdictions have been exploring new tools to focus the attention of child welfare systems on the children most at risk of subsequent abuse or neglect.