Approximately 1 in 12 children in the U.S. are living in households headed by grandparents or other relatives. State Fact Sheets provide helpful state-specific data and information about the range of support services and benefits available

Another new study finds that informal care—using family, friends, or other arrangements—was associated with lower cognitive-ability test scores in kids ages 3 to 6. By contrast, formal, center-based child care had no negative impact compared with remaining in mothers' care. The study examined data from 1,519 single mothers involved in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth in the States. Household income did not seem to have any significant impact on children's scores, particularly when mothers' educational levels were taken into consideration.

This organization provides information and resources to grandparents and other relative caregivers who are raising their grandchildren, their nieces or nephews either by court order or voluntarily.

"We will educate, direct, guide and support any grandparent or relative who seeks to save a child from the trauma of being placed in the foster care system." We strive to build, strengthen and preserve the relationship that exists between the grandparents/relative caregiver and the child. Our belief is that every child has the right to a safe, secure and stable environment, and we will work to guarantee that. We will also strive to change existing laws and create new laws that will recognize the sacrifice and dedication of the relative caregiver.

It's a time-honored way to meet the needs of children who are orphaned or whose parents cannot care for them ?grandparents and other relatives opening their own homes. Yet kinship care has never received the kind of official attention given to non-relative foster care. Jennifer Ehrle and Rob Geen of the Urban Institute say these caregivers need more support.

Want to know about kinship care in your state? These state by state Fact Sheets include data on grandparents and other relatives raising children from the 2000 U.S. Census, with information highlighting innovative and key programs to support kin caregivers, details on the policies that affect foster care kin caregivers, and an overview of state laws and regulations that relate to kinship care.

More than 5.4 million U.S. children are being raised by relatives other than their parents—and they and their caregivers have unique emotional and mental health needs. Caitlin Johnson looks at what's working to help families cope.

The latest census figures show over 2 million U.S. children are now being raised by relatives other than their parents. Caitlin Johnson looks at the special challenges these families face, and how one Virginia group set out to overcome them.

From May 2000 through December 2003, the Casey Family Programs National Center for Resource Family Support (CNC) operated as the national information and referral arm of Casey Family Programs.

For nearly four years the CNC was a one-stop source of information, technical assistance, written materials, and referrals.

In 2003 Casey Family Programs undertook an internal shift to better focus on its work in permanence, transition, prevention, disproportionality, and Indian child welfare. As a result of that shift, the CNC as a separate entity and name was phased out on Dec. 31, 2003. The National Center for Resource Family Support publications are archived on the Web site of the National Resource Center for Foster Care and Permanency Planning, based at Hunter College of Social Work.