Creating a kin-first system

Creating a kin-first system: Opening doors and removing barriers

Learn why prioritizing kinship care matters and explore practical strategies to support kinship caregivers. This session is designed for child welfare professionals involved in recruiting, supporting, and retaining adoptive, foster, and kinship families, as well as administrators who guide policies and practice.

Learning objectives

• Understand the benefits of supporting and prioritizing relatives and fictive kin as first placements and permanency options, utilizing a customer service approach
• Identify barriers that relatives and fictive kin providers experience in the processes for placement consideration, foster care/kinship licensing, fostering and adopting
• Recognize caregiver trauma and burnout and the impact it can have on placement stability for relatives and fictive kin providers
  Learn strategies and tools for supporting kinship providers
  Hear from Ali Caliendo of Foster Kinship about her organization’s evidence-based Kinship Navigator Model and lessons learned in training, licensing, and supporting kinship providers
• Hear from Dawn Barton of South Carolina Department of Social Services about the agency’s work with this model and its efforts to prioritize kin-first placements

Presenters

Katie Amelse
National Child Welfare Advisor
National Center for Diligent Recruitment

Ali Caliendo
Kinship Caregiver
Founder and Executive Director
Foster Kinship

Dawn Barton
Director of Permanency
South Carolina Department of Social Services