Sibling groups. Together? Or Apart?

I recently met with a grandparents group in El Mirage to discuss a number of issues they were having while caring for their grandchildren.  Some grandparents were concerned that their grandchildren had been separated between kinship placements and asked me to research policies on keeping siblings together. 

“Sibling” is generally defined more by relationship than by their genetic relatedness. Unrelated children who have lived in the same family together are “siblings” more than children who share the same parents but have not lived together. 

An article from the Child Welfare Information Gateway (January 2013) highlights the pros and (a few) cons of siblings placed together.

The benefits of keeping siblings together are obvious:  siblings provide a sense of safety and emotional support.  As a foster child myself, I was always placed with one (or more) of my three older brothers.  This gave me an ever present feeling of protection when surrounded by strange people in an unfamiliar environment.  Research indicates that these supportive relationships last throughout childhood and into adulthood, i.e., forever.  In addition, research indicates that siblings placed together have a higher probability of family reunification than siblings placed in different foster homes. 

Siblings placed together also tend to have better academic performance than separated sibs.   Having the children in the same placement also makes communication between placement, children, case managers, and birth families easier than having to include two or more placements in the communication loop. 

But there are some roadblocks to placing children together, the most obvious of which is the size of the sibling group -- the most common reason for not placing siblings together.  Sibling groups of three, four, five, or more may be difficult, if not impossible, to place because of the licensing requirements for differing numbers of children.  Siblings may also be separated if one (or more) of the children needs a higher level of care than other siblings, requiring a therapeutic foster home which may not be able to care for all of the children.

In addition to the number of siblings and required level of care, research has uncovered other factors that discourage keeping some siblings together.  They include:  serious behavior problems in one child that may place siblings/foster siblings in danger; and the tendency of siblings placed together to focus on each other and ignore the foster family’s efforts to include them in family activities.  Separating siblings may also provide "parentified" children, who have spent their lives taking care of younger children, an opportunity to find their own childhoods. 

The take-away from the research is that keeping siblings together is best but, in the end, this decision, like all foster care decisions, should consider the best interest of each of the children. 

For more information about this topic, visit:  www.childwelfare.gov