當家庭發生變故時，延伸家庭的成員往往替代父母承擔照護孩童 的角色。在美國「親屬照顧」被兒福體系吸納成爲親屬寄養是近年兒 童福利的重要議題；反觀台灣，在實務上多將此支持體系視爲民間資 源，並未將之納入正式兒童福利體系，予以補助成爲「親屬寄養照 護」。爲揭露此自然支持體系與政府兒童福利體系交會時的動態過 程，筆者蒐集各縣市社政單位及民間家庭寄養服務承辦人員之問卷調 查、及雙方資深社工員座談資料，以瞭解各縣市政府如何看待親屬照 護的政策及其影響因素。再透過親屬寄養家庭的焦點團體，由案主觀 點來剖析親屬寄養的利弊及其在實務輸送上之意涵，也特別探討親屬 寄養對受虐孩童的適用性。

It has been a common practice even in the U.S. that the extended family substitutes the care role of parents at the time of family crisis. Nevertheless, it was not long ago that the U.S. child welfare system transformed the kinship care into formal foster care for children, also a hot issue in child welfare. In Taiwan, kinship care is still regarded as private practice, and is hardly subsidized by the formal child welfare system. In order to explore the interface of this natural support and public child welfare system, survey and panel discussion of practitioners were conducted to uncover the local governmental polices. Focus group of kin caregivers helped to analyze the pros and cons of kinship foster care and its practice implication from the perspective of service users. For maltreated children, special attention has been taken to see the fitness of kinship foster care.