Expert Input: What It’s Like to Deliver New Training Series on Kinship Care

The Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion has released a video train­ing series, ​“Engag­ing Kin­ship Care­givers” led by train­er, con­sul­tant and fam­i­ly ther­a­pist Joseph Crum­b­ley. Devel­oped for child wel­fare agen­cies, the five-video series is designed to help staff mem­bers work more effec­tive­ly with kin­ship care­givers. A com­ple­men­tary dis­cus­sion guide aids pro­gram direc­tors, super­vi­sors and train­ers in enrich­ing dia­logues dur­ing indi­vid­ual and group sessions.

In this post, Jen­nifer Miller, found­ing part­ner of Child­Fo­cus, reflects on her expe­ri­ence admin­is­ter­ing the train­ing series to child wel­fare staff.

Q: Can you tell us a bit about Child­Fo­cus and your work?

Miller: Child­Fo­cus is a nation­al child wel­fare con­sult­ing firm that sup­ports non­prof­its, pub­lic agen­cies and foun­da­tions in the areas of pol­i­cy advo­ca­cy, strate­gic plan­ning, orga­ni­za­tion­al devel­op­ment, and peer learn­ing and con­sul­ta­tion. We found­ed Child­Fo­cus over a decade ago. We came togeth­er around a shared pas­sion for con­nect­ing peo­ple, pro­grams and pol­i­cy to make a dif­fer­ence for chil­dren and families.

Q: What are some chal­lenges that child wel­fare sys­tems face in find­ing and keep­ing kin­ship caregivers?

Miller: First and fore­most, it is crit­i­cal for child wel­fare agen­cies to believe in kin­ship care. It’s not just a place­ment option — it’s a philosophy.

While most front­line staff have a strong under­stand­ing of what fos­ter par­ents need in order to pro­vide nur­tur­ing care for chil­dren in fos­ter care, these same staff mem­bers are less adept at man­ag­ing the par­tic­u­lar needs of kin­ship care­givers. Train­ing that dif­fer­en­ti­ates the kin­ship care­giv­ing expe­ri­ence from fos­ter par­ent­ing is crit­i­cal and can help staff effec­tive­ly work with kin­ship families.

To do this, child wel­fare agency staff need a fun­da­men­tal under­stand­ing of the unique expe­ri­ences of kin­ship care­givers and the com­plex fam­i­ly dynam­ics asso­ci­at­ed with step­ping in for chil­dren who have been removed from their par­ents. Staff also need to under­stand how to sup­port kin­ship care­givers in a way that is dif­fer­ent from non-kin fos­ter parents.

Q: You recent­ly con­duct­ed a train­ing using the Foundation’s new kin­ship care video train­ing. How did it go?

Miller: Child­Fo­cus was thrilled when the Casey Foun­da­tion decid­ed to devel­op a video series that would help child wel­fare agency staff sup­port care­givers who are step­ping in to care for a relative’s child.

The video series is the per­fect tool because it presents crit­i­cal con­cepts that are clear, com­pelling and eas­i­ly adapt­able to every­day prac­tice. Most impor­tant­ly, the train­ing is con­sis­tent with the over­rid­ing phi­los­o­phy that chil­dren do best with their own fam­i­lies. Dur­ing our train­ing in Utah, pri­vate providers who had nev­er worked with kin­ship care­givers enthu­si­as­ti­cal­ly par­tic­i­pat­ed in the group activ­i­ties. After­ward, many shared that they felt bet­ter pre­pared to antic­i­pate and respond to the needs of kin­ship care­givers. As a result, the agen­cies — which are con­sid­er­ing doing more in the area of kin­ship care — rec­og­nized a need for addi­tion­al train­ing and sup­port as their staff begin to work with kin­ship families.

Q: How did you use the series?

Miller: We used the video series in a Kin­ship 101 train­ing, which we con­duct­ed for three pri­vate fos­ter care agen­cies that are locat­ed in a state where there is inter­est in hav­ing pri­vate agen­cies do more to meet the needs of kin­ship fam­i­lies. Dur­ing the train­ing, we intro­duced two of the videos, had a dis­cus­sion about the audi­ence’s reac­tion to the videos, and used case stud­ies to iden­ti­fy and rein­force some of the con­cepts that the videos conveyed.

The train­ing par­tic­i­pants gave excel­lent feed­back. They spoke about how the videos and sub­se­quent dia­logue helped them become more attuned to what kin­ship care­givers were expe­ri­enc­ing and what strate­gies they could use to help care­givers move for­ward in a way that was in the best inter­ests of the chil­dren in their care.

Q: Who do you think will ben­e­fit most from this series?

Miller: This video series is a pow­er­ful tool for pro­gram direc­tors, super­vi­sors and train­ers of pub­lic and pri­vate child wel­fare agen­cies who strive to equip front­line work­ers to sup­port kin care­givers dur­ing times that can be espe­cial­ly stress­ful for chil­dren and families.

Q: With tools and resources like the video series are avail­able, what’s your out­look on kin­ship care as you look to the future?

Miller: Kin­ship fam­i­lies are an incred­i­bly valu­able resource for chil­dren in fos­ter care. Child­Fo­cus is opti­mistic that, over the next decade, we will see an increas­ing pro­por­tion of chil­dren in fos­ter care liv­ing with kin. But kin­ship care can­not be done on the cheap, and kin­ship fam­i­lies need to feel that they have broad sup­port to help them suc­ceed. This video series is a crit­i­cal resource that can enable child wel­fare agen­cies to strength­en their approach to engag­ing and sup­port­ing kin families.

Q: Are there any oth­er take­aways you found valu­able about the video series?

Miller: After con­duct­ing our first train­ing, we are con­vinced — now more than ever — that the videos pro­vide an extra­or­di­nary oppor­tu­ni­ty for super­vi­sors and pro­gram man­agers to deep­en dis­cus­sions about kin­ship cas­es with their front­line work­ers, enhance their super­vi­sion of strength-based approach­es to kin­ship fam­i­lies, and cre­ate room for work­ers to express con­cerns about the safe­ty and well-being of chil­dren in kin­ship care. We are excit­ed about the poten­tial for the videos to spark even more action on behalf of kin­ship families.