NC Newsline Commentary: North Carolina says family comes first. Our foster care policies should, too.
3/11/26 - Written by: Gaile Osborne
When a child cannot safely remain at home, the next best place is usually with someone they already know.
A grandmother.
An aunt.
A trusted family friend.
We say family comes first in North Carolina. But some of our foster care policies create difficulties and barriers.
Our state is facing a shortage of licensed foster homes. That reality makes it even more urgent to identify and support kinship caregivers, relatives and other trusted adults who can step in during a crisis.
Research consistently shows that children placed with relatives or trusted adults experience greater stability and better mental and behavioral health outcomes than those placed with non-kin foster parents.
Yet in 2023, only 24% of children in North Carolina foster care were placed in relative homes, compared to 31% nationally.
