African American children have had a unique relationship to the development of the formal
child welfare system. Originally excluded from the system, their numbers grew in later years
of the system's development. Currently, as a group they represent the largest proportion of
children in out-of-home care nationally. This pattern of overrepresentation has extended to
the emerging practice of kinship care. Attention is needed to insure that these children are
served in a manner that reflects sensitivity to culture as well as serious consideration for the …