Kinship Care: A Snapshot of Kinship Policies, Kinship Navigator Programs, Services, and System Barriers

Since the passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act, federal regulations have encouraged child welfare agencies to increase their efforts to place children with kin and support kin in their role as caregivers.

This roundtable session will begin with a study conducted by Child Trends in 2022 about all states' kinship policies. The first presenter will present results from an online survey among public agency administrators and kinship program staff. The survey covered the following topics: definitions of kin; policies related to notifying, searching for, and engaging kin as placement resources; kinship foster parent licensing; services and supports offered to kinship caregivers; and data collected to track kinship placements and report on child and family outcomes. Findings show most states have expanded efforts to identify and notify relatives when a child comes to the attention of the child welfare agency, waive specific standards or otherwise modify the foster parent licensing process for kin, offer or refer kin to supports and services, and collect data on different types of kinship care arrangements (e.g., unlicensed, licensed, guardianship). The second presenter will present an evaluation of a kinship navigator program, including formal and informal kinship caregivers, using a quasi-experimental study design. In particular, the second presenter will present baseline findings from the kinship navigator study related to kinship caregiver protective factors, service needs, access and referral to services, and satisfaction with services received, and discuss implications for kinship navigation services. As most kinship caregivers are grandparents, the third and fourth presenters will present grandparent kinship caregivers' service needs, gaps in services, and system barriers to receiving services. The third presenter will share findings from a mixed-methods study, including a survey with 71 grandparents and interviews with 11 grandparents in a Southeastern state on service needs and service gaps. Notably, results will highlight grandparent kinship caregivers' service needs, such as extended childcare, after-school programs, special education programs, mental health services, physical therapy, and occupational therapy for grandchildren. Some services, such as social service benefits, parenting support, respite care, social support, and peer mentorship, for grandparents themselves will be discussed as well. The study found that grandparents were least aware of foster care payments, child educational assistance, parenting assistance, and legal aid services. The fourth presenter will share findings from a qualitative study with 20 school professionals in a small urban school setting in New York State on their experiences of working with grandparents raising their children and their professional needs on the school site. The interviews with school professionals working with grandparent-headed families demonstrated the increased needs for professional training and support for working with non-traditional caregivers. Particularly, the school professionals highlighted the importance of having updated information on resources available to grandparent-headed families in the community.

This session aims to stimulate conversations on kinship policies, services, and cross-system collaborations at the national and state levels to better support kinship families.