Second chance inc7/24/2023 In addition to financial support, kinship caregivers also need assistance navigating the child welfare system and identifying other government resources to adequately support the children in their care.Ī Kin-First Partnership: Allegheny County and A Second Chance, Inc.Īllegheny County achieved a kin-first approach by partnering exclusively with A Second Chance, Inc. However, only about one-third of states and the District of Columbia currently outline in their state statutes how caregivers should be paid when caring for a relative child. An examination of 30 Guardianship Assistance Programs (GAP) found that when GAP payments were equitable with regular foster care maintenance payments, the number of placements with guardians doubled or tripled, without any additional interventions. Research indicates that when relatives have the financial means to care for their kin, they are willing to do so. – Marc Cherna, Director of Allegheny County Department of Human Services3 Who would you want to care for your own children or grandchildren? Would you want people you know and love and can trust, or would you want a stranger? Developmentally, no matter how old the children are, isn’t it easier for them to come to live with their grandparents, who they know and love and are familiar with? When you think about it rationally, it makes all the sense in the world to try and keep children with their extended family and maintain their family ties. Support also is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, through the child protection agency and a community provider, A Second Chance, Inc. This is made possible through a partnership between the county and the state. For example, relative caregivers in Allegheny County, Pa., receive child care for younger children and a per diem to help offset additional financial costs, even before the licensure process is complete. In order to maintain kinship care, it is critical to address the unmet financial needs of relative caregivers and ensure they have tools to successfully raise the children in their care. average and research has consistently shown that compared to non-kin caregivers, relative caregivers have more limited social networks and resources, and they receive less formal foster care training and support. Poverty rates among kinship care providers are almost twice the U.S. For many families, the desire to care for their relative children is unquestionable, but the financial hardship of adding children to their household is a barrier. Simply placing children with kin does not ensure that those children will thrive. Casey Foundation Importance of supporting kin caregivers cared for more than 2.6 million of their relative children through formal and informal care.Īnnie E. Policies, practices, and even agency culture may need to shift so that placing children with kin becomes the norm, and placing children with strangers, the exception. If children need to be removed from their homes, a kin-first agency seeks to make every child’s first - and hopefully only - placement with kin. We must redesign the system from a kin-first perspective. 1 Differences in how state policy defines, licenses, and pays kin contribute to this variation. Nearly one-third (31%) of all children in out-of-home care are placed with relatives, but there is considerable variation across states, ranging from a low of 5% to a high of 46%. We now know it is best for children to stay connected with their families, and to have as many family and community networks as possible. Higher likelihood of achieving permanency through guardianship with their relative caregivers to maintain life-long connections with their family if they are unable to safely return home.ĭespite these outcomes, the child welfare system historically has been designed to remove children from their parents and keep them away from their kin.Better behavioral and mental health, exhibited by fewer internalizing and externalizing behaviors, better adaptive behaviors, fewer psychiatric disorders, and better emotional health.Lower rates of both re-abuse and institutional abuse.More stability in placement and greater likelihood of remaining with siblings.A systematic review of more than 100 studies found that when compared with children in non-relative foster care, children in kinship care have: There are many benefits – both human and financial – associated with kinship care. Why should child protection agencies adopt a kin-first approach?
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