In addition, the state now offers cash payments to about 8,700 other families through kinship care and disability programs.

But in creating kinship care, the state made it harder to get cash payments.

While the demand for kinship care is unexpectedly strong, the reasons are in dispute.

And Ms. Rogers said the demand for kinship care may be driven by factors other than distress.

Many live with relatives in a program the Child Welfare Administration calls kinship care.

This fact sheet describes the benefits of kinship care as a child protection alternative and examines the agency's responsibility for the placement.

Under the present system, relatives who provide what is known as "kinship care" can receive half as much as other foster families.

Nigem was sent to live with his aunt in an arrangement called kinship foster care.

With all its operational difficulties, she said in an interview, kinship care is a "wonderful response to what was a growing caseload."

Since its inception, kinship foster care has evolved into a bureaucratic boondoggle.