More than 2.6 million children across the United States are being raised by grandparents or other relatives. These kinship care arrangements, whether formally through the child welfare system or informally within families, often lack adequate support. Kinship caregivers frequently receive minimal financial assistance or guidance on navigating complex systems to meet the needs of the children in their care. While a positive shift towards prioritizing kin within child protection agencies is growing, many kinship caregivers still face significant challenges. Kinship navigator programs are crucial in bridging these gaps, offering both formal and informal caregivers essential information, education, and referrals to a wide spectrum of services and support systems. The primary goal of these programs is to empower caregivers to provide safe, stable, and, when appropriate, permanent homes for children in their care.
This article will delve into the critical need for kinship navigator programs, outline their core components, and showcase successful examples across different jurisdictions, including their positive outcomes. For those interested in the development and funding aspects, a companion piece, How are kinship navigator programs developed and funded? provides further details.
For a lot of kin caregivers, hope is in short supply. Part of our job is to instill that hope.
– Heidi Lester, Program Manager, Montana Kinship Navigator Program
The Urgent Need for Kinship Navigator Programs
Unlike resource parents (often referred to as foster parents), kinship caregivers typically step into their roles with little or no advance notice, often during times of family crisis. Resource parents usually have the benefit of preparation time, access to parenting classes, childcare resources, clothing assistance, and free lunch programs. Furthermore, children in formal foster care frequently receive additional supports like bicycles, extracurricular activity funding, and YMCA memberships, benefits rarely extended to children in informal kinship care. Many kinship caregivers are older adults who may have already downsized their lives – living in smaller homes, retirement communities, or with vehicles unsuitable for additional children. They often take in children without prior knowledge of their medical histories or past traumas, sometimes welcoming children they were unaware even existed until a crisis situation arose.
Shelly Willis, Executive Director of Family Education and Support Services in Washington state, highlights the isolation often experienced by kinship caregivers: “Kin caregivers are more likely to be isolated. Their friends don’t have kids anymore. Their friends may be out golfing, traveling, or enjoying retirement. It’s a very different world for relative caregivers in terms of respite and support.”
Like all children in out-of-home care, children in kinship placements are entitled to resources and supports that safeguard their well-being, ensure their safety, and promote permanency, ideally through safe reunification with their parents when possible.
The kinship navigator program is designed to support kinship caregivers, but it also supports children immensely. When you have a kinship caregiver who is full of resentment, it puts a child in harm’s way. Kinship caregiver support groups are a recognition and an understanding that this is really hard work. And when a community invests in kinship caregivers, it tells them that they’re valued and understood.
– Shrounda Selivanoff, Director of Public Policy, Children’s Home Society of Washington
Core Elements of Effective Kinship Navigator Programs
Kinship navigator programs are built upon providing essential information, referrals, and ongoing follow-up services to kinship caregivers. This support system connects them with vital benefits and services needed for both the children and themselves. For instance, navigators assist caregivers in applying for public benefits such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Medicaid for the children under their care. These programs also play a crucial role in educating agencies and service providers about the specific needs of relative-headed families and the systems they must navigate to access support.
In some instances, kinship navigators take on multifaceted roles. For example, in Allegheny County, PA, navigators support crisis family placements and family finding initiatives. While some kinship navigator programs are open to all kinship caregiver families, others are specifically designed for caregivers involved with the child welfare agency.
Alt text: A kinship navigator assists a caregiver with paperwork, highlighting the direct support offered by these programs.
The fundamental purpose of kinship navigator programs is to empower kin caregivers to learn about, access, and effectively utilize programs and services. This encompasses meeting both the needs of the children they are raising and their own needs as caregivers. Furthermore, these programs foster strong partnerships between public and private agencies, ensuring that kinship caregiver families receive effective and coordinated services. To be eligible for federal funding under the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2018, kinship navigator programs must achieve a rating of promising, supported, or well-supported from the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. Program activities approved by the Children’s Bureau include:
- Collaboration: Working with state and local agencies to coordinate services and provide information and referrals, including leveraging resources like 2-1-1 or 3-1-1 helplines.
- Lived Experience Integration: Incorporating the insights of kin caregivers, youth raised in kinship care, relevant government agencies, and community-based or faith-based organizations in program design and implementation.
- Information and Referral Systems: Establishing networks connecting kin caregivers, support group facilitators, and service providers, offering training, legal aid, and information on public benefit eligibility and enrollment.
- Outreach: Reaching out to kinship caregiver families through websites, informational guides, and other accessible materials.
- Partnership Building: Creating collaborations between public and private entities like community-based organizations, faith-based groups, schools, and government agencies to improve understanding of kinship family needs and enhance service delivery.
Research consistently demonstrates the value of kinship navigator programs to caregivers and the children in their care. These programs are recognized for providing essential information, resources, mutual support networks, and reducing feelings of isolation among caregivers. Satisfaction levels among kin caregivers participating in such programs are notably high.
Grandfamilies.org serves as a comprehensive resource, offering a dedicated kinship navigator webpage with strategies, details on federal policy funding, jurisdictional examples, and valuable resources like a tip sheet for developing kinship navigator programs.
Jurisdictional Examples and Demonstrated Outcomes
A majority of states have implemented kinship navigator programs. As of May 2023, several programs have received recognition from evidence-based clearinghouses like the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and the California Evidence-based Clearinghouse, earning ratings of promising or supported by research evidence. While many listed programs are associated with specific states, their models and resources are adaptable and beneficial beyond their original jurisdictions. The program manuals and information provided can be instrumental in supporting program implementation and operation in various locations. Several jurisdictions stand out for their long-standing and comprehensive kinship navigator programs:
Arizona
Arizona Kinship Support Services, operated by Arizona’s Children’s Association, originated as a Children’s Bureau discretionary grant and is recognized by the Title IV-E Prevention Service Clearinghouse as supported by research evidence. This program offers voluntary services to both formal and informal kin caregivers, encompassing advocacy, education, information and referrals (including legal resources), assistance with forms for schools, medical services, and benefits, and support groups. Their program implementation manual details staffing and training requirements, core program components (screening and intake, navigation services, family support, service duration guidelines), and fidelity monitoring and data management protocols. Research indicates that children whose families received program services showed a higher likelihood of kinship care placement and achieving permanency compared to those receiving standard Arizona Department of Child Safety services.
Colorado
The Colorado Kinnected Navigator Program, evolving from a Title IV-E Waiver demonstration project, is rated as promising by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. It serves kin caregivers of children with open child welfare cases (court involvement is not mandatory). Beyond needs assessments and tangible and intangible support, the program offers family search and engagement activities and facilitated family engagement meetings. The program manual provides details on services and data collection. A randomized controlled trial revealed that children in the program experienced greater placement stability and a higher rate of reunification with parents compared to similar children not in the program.
Florida
The Children’s Home Network-Kinship Navigator program is recognized by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse as supported by research evidence and serves both formal and informal caregivers. Key services include peer-to-peer support (employing experienced kinship caregivers as mentors) and an interdisciplinary team approach for complex problem-solving. The program uses standardized assessments to address family and child development needs, stress, health, and overall well-being. It employs a wraparound model and family-driven approach, partnering with community members to strengthen kinship arrangements. A randomized controlled trial demonstrated that children whose caregivers participated in this program were less likely to experience maltreatment and more likely to live with relatives compared to those receiving standard care.
Alt text: Kinship caregivers participate in a support group, illustrating the community and peer support aspect of navigator programs.
Nevada
The Foster Kinship Navigator Program is rated as promising by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and focuses on legal supports, financial stability, resource connections, and caregiver emotional support. All kin caregivers, formal and informal, can access a helpline, online resources, intake assessments, community referrals, educational classes, family events, and support groups (online and in-person). Case management with a family advocate is available for caregivers demonstrating higher needs. The program model provides guidance on staffing, assessment, and case management. Data shows the program has led to improved placement stability for children in kinship care.
Ohio
OhioKAN (Kinship and Adoption Navigator) is a program of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services, managed by a statewide nonprofit. Serving formal and informal kin caregivers and post-adoptive families through 10 regional offices, OhioKAN provides tailored support. Following an initial consultation, OhioKAN staff identify resources specific to each family’s needs using an information hub with over 9,000 resources. They then create a personalized resource plan and provide ongoing follow-up. The comprehensive program manual details core components, theory of change, community partnerships (including their inclusion, diversity, equity, and access framework), staffing structures, service delivery steps, and implementation and monitoring guidance. An evaluation is underway for review by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.
Pennsylvania
The Kinship Caregiver Engagement and Support Program, offered by A Second Chance, Inc., is rated as promising by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse. It serves kin caregivers involved with the child welfare system, providing intensive case management, concrete support, and education, extending support even after permanency is achieved. Research indicates the program leads to higher rates of permanent legal custodianship (legal guardianship), particularly benefiting African American families and potentially reducing racial disparities in permanency outcomes.
References
1 Kin may include relatives by blood or marriage, and individuals close to the child and family considered “chosen family” or fictive kin. 2 This brief is informed by interviews with various experts and program administrators (listed in the original article). 3 Not all programs listed on clearinghouses are currently active. 4 Littlewood, K., Cooper, L., & Pandey, A. (2020). Safety and placement stability for the Children’s Home Network kinship navigator program. Child Abuse & Neglect, 106. 5 Ohio’s Kinship Supports Intervention/Protect OHIO is rated as promising by both clearinghouses. 6 Lee, D. H. J., Huerta, C., & Farmer, E. M. Z. (2021). Kinship navigation: Facilitating permanency and equity for youth in child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 131.
This article is for informational purposes from obdcarscantool.store, drawing upon and expanding on content from the Casey Foundation.
