Expanding Reach: Street-Level Barriers and Facilitators to Accessing Kinship Navigator Programs Among Informal Kinship Caregivers

Background and Purpose: Informal kinship caregivers play a critical but underrecognized role in the child welfare landscape. Despite serving as primary caregivers for approximately 2.5 million children in the United States, these caregivers often remain disconnected from formal services and support systems. Kinship Navigator Programs (KNPs) are one of the few formal structures designed to support both formal and informal kinship caregivers, yet little is known about how effectively these programs reach the informal caregiving population. This qualitative study focuses specifically on the REACH component of the RE-AIM framework to examine how informal kinship caregivers come into contact with KNPs and what barriers exist at the point of initial engagement.

Methods: Drawing on five focus groups conducted across seven ethnically and geographically diverse counties in Washington State, this study explores the lived experiences of 36 informal kinship caregivers and 14 kinship navigators. Focus groups were held in collaboration with a university-community partnership and involved stakeholders. Participants included predominantly older, female, White caregivers—many of whom were grandparents—alongside experienced navigators who primarily served informal caregiver populations in rural or suburban counties. Thematic analysis was employed to organize emerging themes of facilitators to and barriers in reaching caregivers. We finally pursued data trustworthiness by member checking.

Findings: Study findings illustrate a range of pathways through which caregivers accessed KNPs. The most common included word-of-mouth referrals within social networks, introductions through peer support groups, referrals from partner organizations, and self-referral through informational materials such as flyers. A low-barrier, destigmatizing intake process was cited as a key facilitator of initial engagement. However, several structural and contextual barriers significantly limited reach. Geographic inaccessibility, especially in rural areas, posed logistical challenges that prevented many caregivers from learning about or accessing services. Caregivers cited a lack of clear, visible information about available programs, and some shared that they had discovered services only by chance. Navigators reported difficulty covering large service areas due to limited staffing which reduced their ability to conduct proactive outreach. Digital access and technological literacy also limited reach. Many older caregivers lacked internet access or comfort navigating online platforms. In some rural areas, internet infrastructure was nonexistent, making it difficult for families to locate or contact navigator services. Cultural and community dynamics further shaped access. Caregivers from close-knit communities tended to rely on internal social networks rather than seek external help. Mistrust of government-affiliated services, especially among historically marginalized communities, also emerged as a critical barrier to outreach.

Conclusion and Implications: These findings suggest that while low-barrier KNPs have the potential to reach high-need caregivers, gaps in visibility, staffing, infrastructure, and culturally tailored engagement strategies limit their ability to do so. To enhance reach, navigator programs must invest in trust-building, multilingual materials, partnerships with community partners, and diversified outreach modalities. Improving the reach of KNPs is essential to ensuring equitable access to caregiving support, particularly for families who operate at the edge of system involvement yet remain largely invisible to it.