Strengthening and Preserving Family is Essential to America's Future

This editorial provides an overview of how the articles in this issue contextualize the wide-range of perceptions and practices that support (and sometimes undermine) family strengths. Data on the challenges facing today’s families are presented.

Preserving Family: Themes from a Qualitative Study of Kin Caregivers

This article presents themes from a qualitative study of 58 African American female kinship caregivers in San Francisco. Core concepts that emerged describe various paths along which children move into kin homes, and caregivers' mixed emotional reactions to becoming surrogate parents. Women also discussed multiple family roles they assumed after taking in children. Responses highlight three primary reasons for becoming caregivers that center on providing for and protecting these children—particularly from the perceived threat of the public foster care system—and ultimately preserving the family unit. Paradoxically, caregivers' reasons mirror the stated goals of the public foster care system, which they view as a threat to family stability. We discuss the problems of implementing practice and policy recommendations for permanency and family preservation and how to bridge the gap between the deeply held negative beliefs of African American caregivers towards the public system and begin to build trust.