	Kinship Care Services

Introduction

Administration and Management

Service Delivery Administration Standards

Service Standards

KC 12: Caregiver Support

Support services help kin to provide care, access services for the child, and maintain family stability.

Research Note: Research suggests that kinship foster families typically access fewer services and receive less support from the child welfare system than unrelated foster parents. These disparities can often be exceptionally burdensome because kinship caregivers tend to be older and less educated than unrelated foster parents, and suffer from greater health and financial instabilities.

KC 12.01

When the child is in state custody, caregivers are informed that:

the primary objective is reunification, or another permanent living arrangement in the child’s best interest;
maintaining contact when siblings are separated is important; and
the organization is legally obligated to be involved with the family to safeguard the child, while respecting family privacy.

NA The organization only provides informal kinship care services.

KC 12.02

Caregivers receive assistance, directly or through referral, to provide a safe home environment.

Interpretation: Assistance in preparing a safe home environment can include working with individuals or community organizations to help families obtain needed resources to adjust to the addition of a child to the home. Resources can include furniture for the child’s room, physical adjustments to the home to accommodate special needs, or individual and family counseling.

KC 12.03

Caregivers receive help obtaining support services including:

financial assistance;
legal services;
housing assistance;
transportation;
food and clothing;
physical and mental health care;
homemaker services; and
respite care.

Interpretation: When the case involves an Indian child, services offered by the tribe or local Indian organizations should be considered.

KC 12.04

Caregivers are encouraged to use informal supports, including:

friends;
neighbors;
other kinship caregivers;
members of tribal, religious, and spiritual communities; and
local businesses or other community organizations.

KC 12.05

The organization works collaboratively with the caregiver and, when appropriate, with parents to identify and prepare other kin who can:

care for the child, if necessary, on a temporary or full-time basis; and
provide assistance and support to the caregiver.

Interpretation: The child’s Indian custodian should be considered a resource.

KC 12.06

Caregivers receive assistance to obtain:

training in basic first aid and medication administration;
certification in CPR, when necessary and appropriate;
training in parenting and discipline techniques; and
training in child development.

Interpretation: When caregivers provide therapeutic care to children with exceptional medical needs, CPR certification is required. In other cases, the organization should consult with the state to determine whether and under what circumstances it is necessary and appropriate for caregivers to be certified in CPR. If it is determined that CPR certification is not necessary, the organization should use the state’s guidance to develop a plan for how kinship caregivers should respond in case of emergency. Appropriate responses may vary based on the geographic area that the organization serves.

KC 12.07

Caregivers are informed about, and assisted in, pursuing permanency options such as adoption, guardianship, or subsidized guardianship.

Interpretation: Customary adoption should be considered as a permanency option for Indian children.

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	PURPOSE: Kinship Care Services maintain the family system as the primary source of care and preserve the continuity of care, culture, relationships, and environment essential for child safety and well-being.

RELATED FILES


	SERVICE One or more organization-operated programs or activities that have a common general objective and deploy the organization's material and human resources in a planned and systematic manner. An organization that publicly promotes or identifies itself in writing as offering a service, is licensed to deliver a service, assigns personnel and/or space to a service, or allocates financial resources to a service is considered to offer that service.


	FAMILY Two or more people who consider themselves family and who assume obligations, functions, and responsibilities generally essential to healthy family life. Child care and child socialization, income support, long-term care, and other caregiving are among the functions of family life. The definition of "family" will rest with an individual's indication of who plays a family member role, including current or former foster family, adoptive family, extended family members, fictive kin, or significant others. Organizations that believe family is the central constellation in a child's life, and that family attachments are of primary importance for human development, will strive to work with professional staff to develop a common understanding of "family."


	CULTURE The customs, habits, values, skills, technology, beliefs, and religious, social, and political behaviors of a group of people in a specific period of time.


	RESEARCH For purposes of COA accreditation, all forms of internal or external research involving persons served except internal program evaluation and outcomes research, or educational projects performed by students and interns that are part of their professional training.


	FOSTER PARENTS State- or county-licensed adults who provide a temporary home for children whose birth parents are unable to care for them. Foster parents are not considered employees or personnel and are specifically referenced in all relevant standards.


	CAREGIVER The provider of physical, emotional, and social needs to another person, often dependent and unable to provide for his or her own needs. Caregiver is the generic term used for the direct service providers in Community Care and Support Services (CCS).


	PARENTS Parents can include: birth, foster, kinship, and adoptive parents. Please see service standards for more specific information about use of this term.


	CUSTODY The care, control, and maintenance of a child. The court legally can award custody to an agency in abuse and neglect cases or to parents in divorce, separation, or adoption proceedings. Child welfare departments retain legal custody and control of major decisions for a child in foster care; foster parents do not have legal custody of the children for which they provide care.


	OBJECTIVE A sub-goal stated in operational terms, i.e., a statement that makes clear what expected results are to be measured or assessed.


	COMMUNITY A specific group of people living in the same locality and who may share a common culture, values, and norms. Communities can also be defined by race, religion, ethnicity, age, occupation, political status, tribal affiliation, interest in particular problems or outcomes, or other common bonds. The term "community" encompasses worksites, schools, tribes, residential neighborhoods, business districts, recreational areas, and health and human service sites.


	INDIAN ORGANIZATION As defined in ICWA, "Any group, association, partnership, cooperation, or other legal entity owned or controlled by Indians, or a majority of whose members are Indians."


	SPECIAL NEEDS A designation used in reference to conditions or characteristics of a person that reflect a need for special care, services, or treatment. When the term is used in the context of adoption services, special needs refers to conditions that make a child harder to place for adoption. This includes children who are members of sibling groups, older children, children with disabilities, children of certain racial /ethnic backgrounds, etc. When the term is used in the context of foster care it refers to the need for a higher degree of specialized case services and attention due to mental and physical disabilities. When the term is used in the context of out-of-school time services, a child or youth may have special physical, behavioral, medical, emotional, or cognitive needs that should be addressed or accommodated. The term is also used in other contexts. See also DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.


	CASE A general term used to designate clients (including individuals, families, and groups) served by an organization for purposes of monitoring the provision of services. A foster care case is generally based on the placement of an individual child, although casework for the child may include services to the child's family. A child protective services case is based on an entire family household if a family assessment model is used; otherwise a case is defined as a child.


	INDIAN CHILD As defined in the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), "Any unmarried person who is under age eighteen and is either (a) a member of an Indian tribe or (b) eligible for membership in an Indian tribe and is the biological child of a member of an Indian tribe." For purposes of compliance with ICWA, the definition provided in the Act shall apply. For purposes of access to services and resources, other more inclusive definitions may apply (e.g. Indian Education Act, tribal definitions, etc.).


	Indian Custodian The Indian Child Welfare Act defines Indian custodian as any Indian person who has legal custody of an Indian child under tribal law, tribal custom, or state law. An Indian custodian can also be an Indian person to whom the parent has given temporary custody. Indian custodians are granted many of the same rights as parents under the Indian Child Welfare Act including the right to consent to foster care placements, withdraw consent, or petition the court to invalidate any foster care placement or termination of parental rights that violate provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act.