Survey Data Offer Insights Into Engaging and Supporting Kinship Caregivers
![A young Black boy hugs an older Black woman, who is likely his grandmother. Both smile into the camera.](https://assets.aecf.org/m/blogimg/_largeHeader/543169/Blog_engagingkinshipcaregivers.jpg)
How can we ensure children removed from their parents’ care maintain stability and continuity? How can we ensure the kin who step up to care for them receive the resources and support they need to thrive? What role do relatives and close family friends play in building a pathway to success for children, kinship caregivers and parents?
Engaging and Supporting Kinship Caregivers highlights findings from a 2022 survey of child welfare administrators. Jurisdictions reported on their policies governing relative notification, family teaming and kinship navigation services that help identify, engage and support caregivers. The report is the latest in the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Family Ties series.
The survey, conducted by Child Trends at the request of the Casey Foundation, included nearly all states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.
Notifying Relatives and Engaging Families in Decision Making
Many states have gone beyond federal requirements regarding notifying relatives when a child enters foster care. And though they’ve expanded their strategies for identifying relatives, large gaps remain in engaging and resourcing kin who provide support to children during times of crisis.
Engaging and Supporting Kinship Caregivers’ findings advance the field’s understanding of the methods and time frames in which agencies involve relatives in case planning:
- In 12 states, caseworkers are required to notify relatives sooner than the federal 30-day mandate, with six states requiring immediate or as-soon-as-possible notification. Only about half of states collect any data on relative notification, including whether a relative responded to the notice.
- Caseworkers in 22 states are required to ask parents for potential caregivers’ contact information, while 21 states extend this requirement to children. Search engines and social media are also increasingly used to find relatives, with 16 states using database tools and nine states requiring caseworkers to search social media platforms.
- Nearly all (42) states require family team meetings at some point during child welfare involvement. These meetings — which include caseworkers, relatives and close family friends — help create plans to support families and keep children safe.
- Sixteen states reported using the Team Decision Making™ (TDM) model developed by the Casey Foundation. The approach helps child welfare agencies make the most informed decisions possible about child removal, change of placement, reunification and other permanency plans. TDM has been shown to reduce the likelihood of removing children from their homes unnecessarily.
“Relatives often have a deeper understanding of a family’s strengths and challenges,” said Todd Lloyd, senior associate for Child Welfare Policy at the Foundation. “By bringing families to the table early and involving them in decision making through practices like TDM, states can help prevent the removal of children from their homes. If removal is deemed necessary, extended family are already engaged and can help reduce the trauma and increase the support children and youth experience when temporarily separated from their parents.”
Connecting Families to Navigation Services
Regardless of child welfare involvement, kinship navigator programs can assist kinship caregivers in learning about, finding and using programs and services that not only provide immediate support but also help build a foundation for long-term family stability and success.
Of the 40 states that reported having kinship navigator programs, 28 offer them statewide, while 12 states’ programs are only available in some areas. This limits access for many caregivers who could benefit from these services. Although the survey found variation between states’ programs, these essential resources and services can include:
- information and referrals on available services like health care, legal aid, financial assistance and mental health resources;
- support for legal and administrative processes like assisting with legal guardianship and custody obtainment; and
- facilitating peer support groups and counseling to help manage the emotional challenges of caregiving.
Strengthening Kinship Policies and Strategies
According to Engaging and Supporting Kinship Caregivers states can enhance the way in which they support and engage families — both in kinship care arrangements and in preventing unnecessary child welfare involvement — by focusing on these areas:
- Increase federal and state investment in implementing and evaluating the effectiveness of kinship navigator programs.
- Expand the availability of kinship navigator services to include those who are not involved with the child welfare system and provide programs in the communities where caregivers live.
- Identify and implement new ways to find and engage with kin, using resources like the Kin-Finding Toolkit developed by Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network.
- Engage directly with kinship caregivers, parents and youth who have experienced placement with kin. They are well-positioned to share effective methods of communication and engagement strategies that will strengthen states’ kinship policies.