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Kinship Caregiver Support Programs

Scientific Ratings in this Topic
  • 1 Well-Supported by Research Evidence
  • 2 Supported by Research Evidence
  • 3 Promising Research Evidence
  • 4 Evidence Fails to Demonstrate Effect
  • 5 Concerning Practice
  • NR Not able to be Rated

Topic Areas

Topic Areas

Definition

Kinship Caregiver Support Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs that support the needs of kinship caregivers, such as training and education, financial services, and support groups. Kinship care refers to the care of children by relatives or, in some jurisdictions, close family friends (often referred to as fictive kin). Kinship care may be formal and involve a training and licensure process for the caregivers, along with monthly subsidies to help defray the costs of caring for the child, or may include voluntary or mediated kin caregivers referring to those relative caregivers caring for children following a child welfare agency assessment to ensure the safety and suitability of the home, or informal caregivers, referring to those relative caregivers caring for children privately, without the involvement of child welfare or other government agencies.

The CEBC also provides information on financial support programs for kinship caregivers.

  • Target population: Potential and current kinship caregivers, including relatives (e.g., grandparent, sibling, etc.) and fictive kin (e.g., godparents, close family friends, etc.)
  • Services/types that fit: Interventions to orient new kinship caregivers or to provide training, skills development, education, or support for new or existing kinship caregivers
  • Delivered by: Child welfare workers, behavioral health professionals, or other professionals or paraprofessionals trained to deliver a kinship caregiver support program
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically identify the support needs of kinship caregivers as a goal
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines outcomes for the kinship caregiver (e.g., knowledge or skill, psychological support, improvement in kinship caregivers' satisfaction with their kinship role, or retention of the child in their home) or outcomes for the child(ren) in their care (e.g., placement stabilization, reunification).

Downloadable Topic Area Summary

Definition

Kinship Caregiver Support Programs are defined by the CEBC as programs that support the needs of kinship caregivers, such as training and education, financial services, and support groups. Kinship care refers to the care of children by relatives or, in some jurisdictions, close family friends (often referred to as fictive kin). Kinship care may be formal and involve a training and licensure process for the caregivers, along with monthly subsidies to help defray the costs of caring for the child, or may include voluntary or mediated kin caregivers referring to those relative caregivers caring for children following a child welfare agency assessment to ensure the safety and suitability of the home, or informal caregivers, referring to those relative caregivers caring for children privately, without the involvement of child welfare or other government agencies.

The CEBC also provides information on financial support programs for kinship caregivers.

  • Target population: Potential and current kinship caregivers, including relatives (e.g., grandparent, sibling, etc.) and fictive kin (e.g., godparents, close family friends, etc.)
  • Services/types that fit: Interventions to orient new kinship caregivers or to provide training, skills development, education, or support for new or existing kinship caregivers
  • Delivered by: Child welfare workers, behavioral health professionals, or other professionals or paraprofessionals trained to deliver a kinship caregiver support program
  • In order to be included: Program must specifically identify the support needs of kinship caregivers as a goal
  • In order to be rated: There must be research evidence (as specified by the Scientific Rating Scale) that examines outcomes for the kinship caregiver (e.g., knowledge or skill, psychological support, improvement in kinship caregivers' satisfaction with their kinship role, or retention of the child in their home) or outcomes for the child(ren) in their care (e.g., placement stabilization, reunification).

Downloadable Topic Area Summary

Topic Expert

The Kinship Caregiver Support Programs topic area was added in 2017. Jill Duerr Berrick, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2017 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2017 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Berrick was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Topic Expert

The Kinship Caregiver Support Programs topic area was added in 2017. Jill Duerr Berrick, PhD was the topic expert and was involved in identifying and rating any of the programs with an original load date in 2017 (as found on the bottom of the program's page on the CEBC) or others loaded earlier and added to this topic area when it launched. The topic area has grown over the years and any programs added since 2017 were identified by CEBC staff, the Scientific Panel, and/or the Advisory Committee. For these programs, Dr. Berrick was not involved in identifying or rating them.

Programs

Kinship Navigator (CHN-KN) Children’s Home Network

The Kinship Navigator (CHN-KN) Children’s Home Network provides supportive services to any relative or nonrelative raising a child on a full-time basis when a parent is unable or unwilling to provide care. Nonrelative refers to someone unrelated who has a significant or family-like relationship to the child. This program provides services to families regardless of their status with the child welfare system, therefore serving informal and formal families. CHN-KN provides a centralized intake line, comprehensive assessments, family conferencing, and navigation services that include securing concrete needs, enrollment in public assistance, linkage to key community resources, development of informal and formal supports, service and crisis planning, support groups, and follow-up contacts at 3-month intervals postcompletion of the program.

Scientific Rating 2

KEEP

The objective of KEEP is to give parents effective tools for dealing with their child's externalizing problems, trauma, and other behavioral and emotional problems and to support them in the implementation of those tools. Curriculum topics include framing the foster/kin parents' role as that of key agents of change with opportunities to alter the life course trajectories of the children placed with them. Foster/kin parents are taught methods for creating a safe environment, encouraging child cooperation, using behavioral contingencies, strategies for self-regulation, effective limit setting, and balancing encouragement and limits. There are also sessions on dealing with difficult problem behaviors including covert behaviors, promoting school success, encouraging positive peer relationships, and strategies for managing stress brought on by providing foster care. There is an emphasis on active learning methods; illustrations of primary concepts are presented via role-plays and videotapes. An adaptation of KEEP, for foster and kinship parents of teenagers called KEEP SAFE, has been reviewed by the CEBC and is rated a 2 –Supported by Research Evidence on the CEBC Scientific Rating Scale in the areas of Behavioral Management Programs for Adolescents in Child Welfare and Resource Parent Recruitment and Training Programs. KEEP SAFE has also been rated a 3 –Promising Research Evidence in the area of Placement Stabilization Programs; that entry is accessible here.

Scientific Rating 3

Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program

The Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program is a trauma-informed, triad-centric, child welfare intervention that aims to increase the likelihood of a placement with relatives or fictive kin. In turn, this placement can lead to improved outcomes in safety, well-being, and permanency for children. Additionally, the kinship placement ideally facilitates higher levels of devotion to meeting placement goals for the entire family, as the kinship caregiver has more insight into family dynamics than a traditional foster parent would possess. Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program is designed to assist the local Child Welfare agency in:

  • Identifying kinship family supports
  • Providing education on kinship licensure processes
  • Finding emergency kinship identification for placement options for children being removed
  • Finding kinship identification for children in congregate care
  • Increasing culturally and racially relevant placements

Scientific Rating 3

Kinship Supports Intervention

The purpose of the Kinship Supports Intervention is to ensure that kinship caregivers have the support they need to meet children's physical, emotional, financial, and basic needs. The intervention helps kinship caregivers, including relatives and fictive kin, navigate the child welfare system and connect them to federal, state, and local resources to support the children in their care. Through the intervention, Kinship Coordinators or other designated child welfare kinship staff complete several tools for each kinship family, including a home assessment that evaluates the caregiver's ability and willingness to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children placed in their care, and a needs assessment that identifies services and supports the caregiver's needs. A caregiver support plan is developed in accordance with the needs assessment, and the needs assessment is updated on a quarterly basis to ensure that services and supports continue to address changes in the family's needs over time.

Scientific Rating 3

Connecting

Connecting is a program for foster/relative caregivers and the teens (11-15 years old) in their care. It uses a trauma-informed approach and is designed to help strengthen family relationships and help families develop skills to reduce risk of drug use, risky sexual behavior, and violence among teens. The program includes two DVDs and a workbook with step-by-step activities that families complete at their own pace. Families receive weekly check-in contacts from a trained family consultant to answer questions about the program, facilitate use of the materials, and encourage families to complete the program. The book includes ten chapters covering background information, activities for caregivers to do alone and to do together with the teen, and ideas to help caregivers take care of themselves. Each chapter has references to video segments on the DVDs to promote discussions between caregivers and teens, demonstrate skills, or provide examples of how other foster families have dealt with similar issues.

Scientific Rating NR

Edgewood Kinship Support Network

The Edgewood Kinship Support Network is designed to support kinship caregivers in an effort to keep the children in their care or reunited with a biological parent and to relieve the burden of the formal foster care system.

The network offers comprehensive services to support kinship families including:

  • Case management
  • Caregiver support groups in multiple languages located throughout San Francisco and San Mateo Counties
  • Parenting and educational workshops
  • Food and supplies
  • Independent living skills and classes
  • Family activities and celebrations
  • Wellness activities for caregivers (mindfulness, stress reduction, harm reduction)
  • Referrals to Edgewood's Outpatient Mental Health Services program
  • A comprehensive, website (www.iKinship.org) updated regularly with information for kinship families inside of San Francisco County

Scientific Rating NR

GrandFamilies House

GrandFamilies House provides housing and support to intergenerational grandfamilies. The fully accessible House offers 26 apartments for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and a unit for the resident manager. GrandFamilies House was co–developed by Boston Aging Concerns – Young and Old United (BAC–YOU) and the Women's Institute. It is owned and operated by BAC–YOU, which has since merged with Nuestra Comunidad Community Development Corporation

Scientific Rating NR

GrandParent Family Apartments

The mission of the Grandparent Family Apartments is to provide safe and affordable housing and support systems that enable grandparents raising grandchildren to reach their full potential and their grandchildren to gain the emotional and educational tools essential for success. GrandParent Family Apartments is a collaborative project among Presbyterian Senior Services (PSS), West Side Federation For Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. (WSFSSH), and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The housing is in a building that was built for this purpose with elders and children active participants in the design of the building. The building includes a ground-floor activity center and garden; apartments with emergency cords in bedrooms and grab bars in the bathrooms; and 24-hour staff and support. Services provided for caregivers include: Support groups, respite counseling, intergenerational programs, Education workshops and seminars and benefit and entitlement assistance.

Scientific Rating NR

Grandparent Family Connections

GFC is a multifaceted, community-based service program that works with grandparent-headed households (GHH) in their homes and in the context of their neighborhoods to help them meet the basic needs of the children in their care and prevent child maltreatment. Nine practice principles guide GFC interventions:

  • Ecological developmental framework
  • Community outreach
  • Individualized family assessment and tailored interventions
  • Helping alliance
  • Empowerment principles
  • Strengths-based practice
  • Cultural competence
  • Outcome-driven service plans with specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals
  • A focus on the competence of the practitioner

Individualized family interventions are tailored to address the special needs of GHH and geared to increase protective factors, decrease risk factors, and target child safety, well-being, and permanency outcomes.

Scientific Rating NR

Grandparents as Parents

Grandparents as Parents offers advocacy services, support groups, and crisis intervention for relative caregivers who have taken on the role of parent to their child relative rather than place them in the child welfare system.

Scientific Rating NR

Kin as Teachers

KAT is a modification of the Parents as Teachers program designed to meet the special needs of relative caregivers raising children from birth to kindergarten entry. The KAT program addresses the following areas:

  • Parent knowledge and parenting practices
  • Detection of developmental delays and health issues
  • Prevention of child abuse and neglect
  • Promotion of school readiness and success

The KAT program establishes a two-year time limit for delivery of services, due to a waiting list, and it utilizes case management services rather than resource networking. The program was created specifically to address the needs of vulnerable young children in kinship families who often need extra support and special services.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Care Connection

The KCC, is an innovative school-based intervention designed to increase children's self-esteem and to mediate kin caregiver burden through the implementation and evaluation of support groups and case management services (including counseling, advocacy, and resource procurement) for caregivers and tutoring, mentoring, counseling, advocacy, and resource procurement for children.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Education Preparation and Support

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

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Navigator Program – Arizona

The Kinship Navigator Program – Arizona provides staff positions (Kinship Navigators) to assist kinship caregivers with understanding, navigating, and accessing the system of out-of-home care supports and services for children. Kinship navigators provide flexible and responsive services to kinship families based on family needs. Kinship navigators initially provide caregivers with information, referrals, and advocacy services. Navigators also assist caregivers in identifying and removing barriers to service receipt; accessing benefits for which they are eligible; accessing legal services; and utilizing existing community resources and support systems (such as health, financial, legal services, support groups, training, and emergency funds). The program model is designed to empower families to support and advocate for one another and therefore, foster interdependence and a natural support system. Through kinship navigation services, the program model seeks to support kinship families and contribute to the increased safety, permanency, and well-being of youth in formal (i.e., placed in legal custody of government and placed into kinship care by the child welfare system) and informal (i.e., arrangements made by parents and other family members without child welfare or juvenile court involvement) kinship care.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Navigator Program – Family Connections Grantee Model

The Kinship Navigator Program - Family Connections Grantee Model provides staff positions (Kinship Navigators) to assist kinship caregivers with understanding, navigating, and accessing the system of out-of-home care supports and services for children. Kinship navigators provide flexible and responsive services to kinship families based on family needs. Kinship navigators initially provide caregivers with information, referrals, and advocacy services. Navigators also assist caregivers in identifying and removing barriers to service receipt; accessing benefits for which they are eligible; accessing legal services; and utilizing existing community resources and support systems (such as health, financial, legal services, support groups, training, and emergency funds). The program model is designed to empower families to support and advocate for one another and therefore, foster interdependence and a natural support system. Through kinship navigation services, the program model seeks to support kinship families and contribute to the increased safety, permanency, and well-being of youth in formal (i.e., placed in legal custody of government and placed into kinship care by the child welfare system) and informal (i.e., arrangements made by parents and other family members without child welfare or juvenile court involvement) kinship care.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Navigator Program – Washington State

The Kinship Navigator Program - Washington State is a statewide program that includes all 39 counties and 7 tribes. The program provides a human services worker known as a Kinship Navigator that offers services to kinship care families in a single or multicounty service area or for one of seven tribes. The role of the Kinship Navigator is to connect grandparents and relatives who are raising children with community resources, such as health, financial, legal services, support groups, training, and emergency funds. Since many kinship care families are unaware of services for which they are entitled, Kinship Navigators also explain how to apply for federal and state benefits. The Kinship Navigator services help kinship care families establish or maintain greater self-sufficiency and long-term stability needed to keep their children in their family of origin.

Scientific Rating NR

Parenting a Second Time Around

PASTA is a parenting program designed for relative caregivers who are not the biological parents of the children in their care. PASTA provides grandparents and other kinship caregivers with information, skills, and resources designed to enhance their ability to provide effective care for the young relatives they are parenting. PASTA consists of eight sessions that focus on topics including child development, discipline and guidance; caring for oneself as a caregiver; rebuilding a family; living with teens; legal issues; and advocacy.

Scientific Rating NR

Project Healthy Grandparents

The goal of PHG is to improve the well-being of families in which grandparents are raising their grandchildren in parent-absent homes. PHG provides case management by master's prepared social workers, as well as health services by registered nurses. PHG's comprehensive services include monthly home visitations by registered nurses and social workers, parenting education classes and support groups, legal service referrals, as well as early intervention services for young children. In many cases, referrals are made to other healthcare or community service providers, and transportation services are available, if needed. To be eligible for services, the grandparent(s) must be responsible for at least one grandchild age 16 years or younger and the child's parents must be absent from the home. Once enrolled, participants have access to all PHG services free of charge for one year. Participation in support groups is available after completion of the full year of comprehensive services.

Scientific Rating NR

Relatives as Parents Program

RAPP is designed to encourage and promote the creation or expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of surrogate parenting due to the absence of the parents. RAPP provides services primarily to relative caregivers caring for children outside the foster care system. The Brookdale Foundation conducts the National Orientation and Training Conference to facilitate opportunities for training, networking, and information exchange and provides technical assistance to the RAPP Network through listservs, site bulletins, conference calls, web chats, and an annual newsletter.

Scientific Rating NR

Programs

Kinship Navigator (CHN-KN) Children’s Home Network

The Kinship Navigator (CHN-KN) Children’s Home Network provides supportive services to any relative or nonrelative raising a child on a full-time basis when a parent is unable or unwilling to provide care. Nonrelative refers to someone unrelated who has a significant or family-like relationship to the child. This program provides services to families regardless of their status with the child welfare system, therefore serving informal and formal families. CHN-KN provides a centralized intake line, comprehensive assessments, family conferencing, and navigation services that include securing concrete needs, enrollment in public assistance, linkage to key community resources, development of informal and formal supports, service and crisis planning, support groups, and follow-up contacts at 3-month intervals postcompletion of the program.

Scientific Rating 2

KEEP

The objective of KEEP is to give parents effective tools for dealing with their child's externalizing problems, trauma, and other behavioral and emotional problems and to support them in the implementation of those tools. Curriculum topics include framing the foster/kin parents' role as that of key agents of change with opportunities to alter the life course trajectories of the children placed with them. Foster/kin parents are taught methods for creating a safe environment, encouraging child cooperation, using behavioral contingencies, strategies for self-regulation, effective limit setting, and balancing encouragement and limits. There are also sessions on dealing with difficult problem behaviors including covert behaviors, promoting school success, encouraging positive peer relationships, and strategies for managing stress brought on by providing foster care. There is an emphasis on active learning methods; illustrations of primary concepts are presented via role-plays and videotapes. An adaptation of KEEP, for foster and kinship parents of teenagers called KEEP SAFE, has been reviewed by the CEBC and is rated a 2 –Supported by Research Evidence on the CEBC Scientific Rating Scale in the areas of Behavioral Management Programs for Adolescents in Child Welfare and Resource Parent Recruitment and Training Programs. KEEP SAFE has also been rated a 3 –Promising Research Evidence in the area of Placement Stabilization Programs; that entry is accessible here.

Scientific Rating 3

Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program

The Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program is a trauma-informed, triad-centric, child welfare intervention that aims to increase the likelihood of a placement with relatives or fictive kin. In turn, this placement can lead to improved outcomes in safety, well-being, and permanency for children. Additionally, the kinship placement ideally facilitates higher levels of devotion to meeting placement goals for the entire family, as the kinship caregiver has more insight into family dynamics than a traditional foster parent would possess. Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program is designed to assist the local Child Welfare agency in:

  • Identifying kinship family supports
  • Providing education on kinship licensure processes
  • Finding emergency kinship identification for placement options for children being removed
  • Finding kinship identification for children in congregate care
  • Increasing culturally and racially relevant placements

Scientific Rating 3

Kinship Supports Intervention

The purpose of the Kinship Supports Intervention is to ensure that kinship caregivers have the support they need to meet children's physical, emotional, financial, and basic needs. The intervention helps kinship caregivers, including relatives and fictive kin, navigate the child welfare system and connect them to federal, state, and local resources to support the children in their care. Through the intervention, Kinship Coordinators or other designated child welfare kinship staff complete several tools for each kinship family, including a home assessment that evaluates the caregiver's ability and willingness to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children placed in their care, and a needs assessment that identifies services and supports the caregiver's needs. A caregiver support plan is developed in accordance with the needs assessment, and the needs assessment is updated on a quarterly basis to ensure that services and supports continue to address changes in the family's needs over time.

Scientific Rating 3

Connecting

Connecting is a program for foster/relative caregivers and the teens (11-15 years old) in their care. It uses a trauma-informed approach and is designed to help strengthen family relationships and help families develop skills to reduce risk of drug use, risky sexual behavior, and violence among teens. The program includes two DVDs and a workbook with step-by-step activities that families complete at their own pace. Families receive weekly check-in contacts from a trained family consultant to answer questions about the program, facilitate use of the materials, and encourage families to complete the program. The book includes ten chapters covering background information, activities for caregivers to do alone and to do together with the teen, and ideas to help caregivers take care of themselves. Each chapter has references to video segments on the DVDs to promote discussions between caregivers and teens, demonstrate skills, or provide examples of how other foster families have dealt with similar issues.

Scientific Rating NR

Edgewood Kinship Support Network

The Edgewood Kinship Support Network is designed to support kinship caregivers in an effort to keep the children in their care or reunited with a biological parent and to relieve the burden of the formal foster care system.

The network offers comprehensive services to support kinship families including:

  • Case management
  • Caregiver support groups in multiple languages located throughout San Francisco and San Mateo Counties
  • Parenting and educational workshops
  • Food and supplies
  • Independent living skills and classes
  • Family activities and celebrations
  • Wellness activities for caregivers (mindfulness, stress reduction, harm reduction)
  • Referrals to Edgewood's Outpatient Mental Health Services program
  • A comprehensive, website (www.iKinship.org) updated regularly with information for kinship families inside of San Francisco County

Scientific Rating NR

GrandFamilies House

GrandFamilies House provides housing and support to intergenerational grandfamilies. The fully accessible House offers 26 apartments for grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and a unit for the resident manager. GrandFamilies House was co–developed by Boston Aging Concerns – Young and Old United (BAC–YOU) and the Women's Institute. It is owned and operated by BAC–YOU, which has since merged with Nuestra Comunidad Community Development Corporation

Scientific Rating NR

GrandParent Family Apartments

The mission of the Grandparent Family Apartments is to provide safe and affordable housing and support systems that enable grandparents raising grandchildren to reach their full potential and their grandchildren to gain the emotional and educational tools essential for success. GrandParent Family Apartments is a collaborative project among Presbyterian Senior Services (PSS), West Side Federation For Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. (WSFSSH), and New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The housing is in a building that was built for this purpose with elders and children active participants in the design of the building. The building includes a ground-floor activity center and garden; apartments with emergency cords in bedrooms and grab bars in the bathrooms; and 24-hour staff and support. Services provided for caregivers include: Support groups, respite counseling, intergenerational programs, Education workshops and seminars and benefit and entitlement assistance.

Scientific Rating NR

Grandparent Family Connections

GFC is a multifaceted, community-based service program that works with grandparent-headed households (GHH) in their homes and in the context of their neighborhoods to help them meet the basic needs of the children in their care and prevent child maltreatment. Nine practice principles guide GFC interventions:

  • Ecological developmental framework
  • Community outreach
  • Individualized family assessment and tailored interventions
  • Helping alliance
  • Empowerment principles
  • Strengths-based practice
  • Cultural competence
  • Outcome-driven service plans with specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals
  • A focus on the competence of the practitioner

Individualized family interventions are tailored to address the special needs of GHH and geared to increase protective factors, decrease risk factors, and target child safety, well-being, and permanency outcomes.

Scientific Rating NR

Grandparents as Parents

Grandparents as Parents offers advocacy services, support groups, and crisis intervention for relative caregivers who have taken on the role of parent to their child relative rather than place them in the child welfare system.

Scientific Rating NR

Kin as Teachers

KAT is a modification of the Parents as Teachers program designed to meet the special needs of relative caregivers raising children from birth to kindergarten entry. The KAT program addresses the following areas:

  • Parent knowledge and parenting practices
  • Detection of developmental delays and health issues
  • Prevention of child abuse and neglect
  • Promotion of school readiness and success

The KAT program establishes a two-year time limit for delivery of services, due to a waiting list, and it utilizes case management services rather than resource networking. The program was created specifically to address the needs of vulnerable young children in kinship families who often need extra support and special services.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Care Connection

The KCC, is an innovative school-based intervention designed to increase children's self-esteem and to mediate kin caregiver burden through the implementation and evaluation of support groups and case management services (including counseling, advocacy, and resource procurement) for caregivers and tutoring, mentoring, counseling, advocacy, and resource procurement for children.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Education Preparation and Support

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

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Navigator Program – Arizona

The Kinship Navigator Program – Arizona provides staff positions (Kinship Navigators) to assist kinship caregivers with understanding, navigating, and accessing the system of out-of-home care supports and services for children. Kinship navigators provide flexible and responsive services to kinship families based on family needs. Kinship navigators initially provide caregivers with information, referrals, and advocacy services. Navigators also assist caregivers in identifying and removing barriers to service receipt; accessing benefits for which they are eligible; accessing legal services; and utilizing existing community resources and support systems (such as health, financial, legal services, support groups, training, and emergency funds). The program model is designed to empower families to support and advocate for one another and therefore, foster interdependence and a natural support system. Through kinship navigation services, the program model seeks to support kinship families and contribute to the increased safety, permanency, and well-being of youth in formal (i.e., placed in legal custody of government and placed into kinship care by the child welfare system) and informal (i.e., arrangements made by parents and other family members without child welfare or juvenile court involvement) kinship care.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Navigator Program – Family Connections Grantee Model

The Kinship Navigator Program - Family Connections Grantee Model provides staff positions (Kinship Navigators) to assist kinship caregivers with understanding, navigating, and accessing the system of out-of-home care supports and services for children. Kinship navigators provide flexible and responsive services to kinship families based on family needs. Kinship navigators initially provide caregivers with information, referrals, and advocacy services. Navigators also assist caregivers in identifying and removing barriers to service receipt; accessing benefits for which they are eligible; accessing legal services; and utilizing existing community resources and support systems (such as health, financial, legal services, support groups, training, and emergency funds). The program model is designed to empower families to support and advocate for one another and therefore, foster interdependence and a natural support system. Through kinship navigation services, the program model seeks to support kinship families and contribute to the increased safety, permanency, and well-being of youth in formal (i.e., placed in legal custody of government and placed into kinship care by the child welfare system) and informal (i.e., arrangements made by parents and other family members without child welfare or juvenile court involvement) kinship care.

Scientific Rating NR

Kinship Navigator Program – Washington State

The Kinship Navigator Program - Washington State is a statewide program that includes all 39 counties and 7 tribes. The program provides a human services worker known as a Kinship Navigator that offers services to kinship care families in a single or multicounty service area or for one of seven tribes. The role of the Kinship Navigator is to connect grandparents and relatives who are raising children with community resources, such as health, financial, legal services, support groups, training, and emergency funds. Since many kinship care families are unaware of services for which they are entitled, Kinship Navigators also explain how to apply for federal and state benefits. The Kinship Navigator services help kinship care families establish or maintain greater self-sufficiency and long-term stability needed to keep their children in their family of origin.

Scientific Rating NR

Parenting a Second Time Around

PASTA is a parenting program designed for relative caregivers who are not the biological parents of the children in their care. PASTA provides grandparents and other kinship caregivers with information, skills, and resources designed to enhance their ability to provide effective care for the young relatives they are parenting. PASTA consists of eight sessions that focus on topics including child development, discipline and guidance; caring for oneself as a caregiver; rebuilding a family; living with teens; legal issues; and advocacy.

Scientific Rating NR

Project Healthy Grandparents

The goal of PHG is to improve the well-being of families in which grandparents are raising their grandchildren in parent-absent homes. PHG provides case management by master's prepared social workers, as well as health services by registered nurses. PHG's comprehensive services include monthly home visitations by registered nurses and social workers, parenting education classes and support groups, legal service referrals, as well as early intervention services for young children. In many cases, referrals are made to other healthcare or community service providers, and transportation services are available, if needed. To be eligible for services, the grandparent(s) must be responsible for at least one grandchild age 16 years or younger and the child's parents must be absent from the home. Once enrolled, participants have access to all PHG services free of charge for one year. Participation in support groups is available after completion of the full year of comprehensive services.

Scientific Rating NR

Relatives as Parents Program

RAPP is designed to encourage and promote the creation or expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of surrogate parenting due to the absence of the parents. RAPP provides services primarily to relative caregivers caring for children outside the foster care system. The Brookdale Foundation conducts the National Orientation and Training Conference to facilitate opportunities for training, networking, and information exchange and provides technical assistance to the RAPP Network through listservs, site bulletins, conference calls, web chats, and an annual newsletter.

Scientific Rating NR