Kinship Education Preparation and Support (KEPS)

Note: The Kinship Education Preparation and Support (KEPS) program was not responsive to the CEBC's inquiry. The following information was obtained from publicly available sources.

About This Program

Target Population: Formal kinship caregivers in a large urban city

Program Overview

KEPS was implemented to address the needs of formal kinship caregivers in a large urban city. Its four goals are to provide kinship caregivers with:

  • Education, preparation, and support focusing on concrete information relating to all aspects of the public child welfare system
  • Peer support from other caregivers to help build on or strengthen the skills needed to parent the children in their care
  • The skills needed to manage the behavior of the children’s birth parents
  • The skills to work with line workers as a team to support case planning goals

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Kinship Education Preparation and Support (KEPS).

Manuals and Training

Publicly available information indicates there is some training available for this program.
See contact info below.

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

The following studies were not included in rating Kinship Education Preparation and Support (KEPS) on the Scientific Rating Scale...

Green, Y. R., & Gray, M. (2013). Lessons learned from the Kinship Education and Support Program (KEPS): Developing effective support groups for formal kinship caregivers. Social Work with Groups, 36(1), 27–42. https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2012.698384

The purpose of the study was to examine the effectiveness of the Kinship Education Preparation and Support (KEPS) program to support the needs of formal kinship caregivers. Results indicate that the themes emergent from the focus groups were: the need for, and benefits of, support programs for formal kinship caregivers; implementation challenges; and improvements for KEPS. Limitations include that the study only reflects the perspectives of kinship stakeholders involved in the public child welfare system in one county in California, perspectives may not be representative of the national population of formal kinship families, and lack of standardized measures. Note: This article was not used in the rating process due to the lack of a control group, and also due to criteria on the Scientific Rating Scale which requires that outcome measures be reliable and valid, and administered consistently and accurately across all subjects.

Additional References

No reference materials are currently available for Kinship Education Preparation and Support (KEPS).

Contact Information

Yolanda R. Green, PhD
Email:

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed by CEBC: May 2025

Date Program Content Last Reviewed by Program Staff: March 2017

Date Program Originally Loaded onto CEBC: March 2017