This measure represents the percentage of days children and youth in care are served in kinship settings with family members or close family friends providing their primary care. This number is not representative of the kinship point in time number. DCFS strives to serve children in their home or with kin whenever safely possible. The goal for this measure is to increase the number of days children and youth in care spend with kin.

Data is reported six weeks after the end of each quarter to allow time for data entry by direct service and support staff.

This measure represents the percentage of days children and youth in care are served in kinship settings. The measure recovered to 45.80% in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, near the 47% goal, then declined to 37.80% in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026. This measure is affected by DCFS's transition to a new database. Kinship status on placements is now captured through a single indicator identifying placements as "Relative Foster Home," "Kin Foster Family Home," or non-kin. Values for many older placements have been backdated in this indicator, but a substantial number remain blank, so days that are in fact kinship placements are not all being counted as such. DCFS is currently reporting the percentage recorded as kin, which understates the true figure, and may revise this approach or request that more placements be backdated in the database. This limitation should be considered when interpreting the recent trend. DCFS is reviewing barriers that may be contributing to placements in foster or shelter care rather than with relatives. To address this, DCFS is working to update policies and procedures to improve initial placements with relatives, including providing special funding for kinship caregivers at the start of placement to offer financial support during the early stages of care. Recent federal updates to kinship licensing rules could also give DCFS and the Office of Licensing a stronger ability to create a more effective pathway for relative caregivers. DCFS is assessing these updates and exploring ways to improve the licensing process for relatives. These efforts are focused on strengthening and increasing kinship placements for children in care.