Kinship foster care in Madrid: Analysis of family profile and intervention proposals

Abstract

Kinship foster care is the most common child protection measure in Spain. This paper defines a profile of these families in three districts of the city of Madrid and proposes lines of intervention. A descriptive methodology is used considering the age of children and caregivers, family relationship, or kind of child protection measure. Results show that the most common kinship caregiver is the maternal grandmother, the most used form of kinship foster care is permanent administrative care and the protection measure mostly agreed upon is guardianship. Intervention should focus on problems related to intergenerational differences, relationship improvement, and the elaboration of children's life stories.