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Welcome to our February newsletter! This month, we are celebrating Black History Month.
Please read on to learn about our upcoming webinars, our newest learning community and Exemplary designation opportunities, our latest resources, and other news from around the field.
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Register for Our Upcoming Webinars! | | |
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Kin-Specific Foster Care Licensing: Implementation Progress
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET
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It’s been almost a year since the publication of the kin-specific licensing/approval model standards and the first jurisdictions going live. Hear from four jurisdictions about their progress so far, lessons learned, and advice for agencies going live next. Our guest speakers are Jessica Bodell, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services; Lindsay Coleman, LMSW, Tennessee Department of Children’s Services; Cheryl Miller & Joylina Gonzalez, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe; and Rebecca Rice, Maryland Department of Human Services. The event will be facilitated by one of our subject matter experts, Marina Nitze, and she will be joined by another Network subject matter expert, Heidi Redlich Epstein, from the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. Starting at 2:00 p.m. ET, we will hold a 30-minute Q&A session for those interested in a deeper dive on implementation strategies and how to overcome potential roadblocks. | | |
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Aging Network and Child Welfare Collaborations to Support Kinship/Grandfamilies
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
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Since we launched our LinkedIn page in September 2023, we’ve shared dozens of resources, funding opportunities, and training events. We invite you to follow our page to keep up with our latest news between monthly issues of this newsletter. | |
What's New From the Network? | | |
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Apply to Have Your Kinship/Grandfamilies Practice Considered for the Network's Exemplary Designation
We are pleased to open this new request for applications for the Exemplary Kinship Practice Designation, which welcomes the submission of practices that have anecdotal or empirical evidence of success. Practices may be kin-specific or more general and implemented in a way that specifically helps kinship/grandfamilies. We encourage state, territorial, county, and tribal agencies and community-based programs that serve kinship families through the aging/elder/senior, child welfare, disability, education, housing, kinship navigation, Medicaid and Medicare, nutrition, or TANF systems to apply.
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How to Build Capacity to Attract Funding for Smaller Kinship and Peer-Led Organizations
In 2023 and 2024, we piloted a small learning community of four kinship organizations, three of which are led by kin caregivers and one by an individual who was raised by her kin. Their leaders received training, individualized support, and group coaching from Tiffany Allen, founder of Boss on a Budget, to increase the internal capacity of their organizations so that they could gain funding and better track their outcomes. This toolkit includes lessons learned from that learning community and provides insights for other organizations on what to focus on to leverage their data and increase their funding.
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Monthly Resource
Setting Up a Grandfamily Council: 10 Tips
A grandfamily council is a group created by an agency or organization to help implement practices and policies in a way that considers the unique strengths and challenges of grandfamilies. This type of advisory council prioritizes the expertise and insight of lived experts to ensure services are relevant, effective, and tailored to the needs of grandfamilies. Creating a robust, active grandfamily council ensures that your programming meets the needs of the kin caregivers you serve.
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As of the fall of 2023, child welfare agencies can use separate commonsense foster care licensing standards tailored for kin. Many jurisdictions have already adopted this flexibility, and more are planning on doing so. Last week, we shared a map showing the progress across the United States. States and tribes marked in green are reaping the administrative time and cost savings associated with the adoption of kin-specific standards while children are living with supported kin who love them. A win-win! Click here to see the map and learn more, and don’t forget to join the conversation by reacting to or commenting on the LinkedIn post! | |
Individual Assistance Spotlight | | |
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The Network is responding free of charge to individual technical assistance (TA) requests from professionals who work in systems and organizations that serve kinship/grandfamilies. To request assistance on the array of issues impacting kinship/grandfamilies, please complete our request assistance form. | |
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We answer questions and respond to requests of all sizes. Some questions focus on a very specific topic and/or location, while others are much broader. Below, we share an example of a TA request and response.
Request
I facilitate a kinship support group in Spanish, and I’m looking for more information and resources to share. Do you have resources available in Spanish?
Response
We have several resources in Spanish – some that are great for professional development and others that can be shared directly with families. You can find them all here: https://www.gksnetwork.org/es/resources/. Below are a few that would be especially good to share with families.
To make an individual request, please complete this form and we will get in touch.
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Holly Handler has been a child welfare attorney, public defender, and supervising attorney for Alaska Legal Services, and she has handled many legal cases under the Indian Child Welfare Act.
In 2023, Holly sought assistance from the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network as she and her colleagues endeavored to open the Kin Support Program – Haa Yaitx’u Saiani. They were determined to serve grandparents and other family members struggling to care for young relatives outside the foster care system.
Holly credits the Network with helping her bring her idea to reality. She shared, “From questions about launching as an independent nonprofit to designing our model, managing referrals, and evaluating the program, the Network could answer absolutely every question I had. They put me in touch with other small, independent programs like the one we were hoping to build so we could leverage their best practices. I had an extraordinary counseling session with one of the subject matter experts, Dr. Angelique Day, who helped us begin to design our program evaluation.”
With the Network’s dedicated, personal support, as well as its resources via newsletters and webinars, Holly’s team was able to open the Program’s doors in July 2024. Since that time, the Program’s two family specialists, kin attorney, and contracted parent attorney have together served 35 families.
In the near future, Holly hopes to see Alaska fund an array of programs and services that help keep kids with their kin, as well as finalize a state prevention plan, as Alaska is one of four in the nation that does not yet have one. She’d like to see the Kin Support Program be a best-in-class example of the power of offering preventative services and helping kids stay with kin, as research shows that, when children cannot stay with their parents, they have the best life outcomes if they are able to stay with relatives (instead of non-kin).
Network staff, and our partners and subject matter experts, will continue to be available to Holly, and others like her around the country. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.
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Presentations by the Network | | |
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On Tuesday, February 25, Network Technical Assistance Specialists Shalah Bottoms and Kylee Craggett will be presenting a webinar, “Unique Strengths and Challenges of Kinship Families,” along with other expert representatives from Generations United, for Foster Adopt Minnesota. | |
What's New Around the Network? | |
Join Us at the Generations United Conference
Wednesday, June 25, 2025 through Friday, June 27, 2025
Louisville, Kentucky
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The 23rd Generations United conference, co-hosted by Harbor House, will bring together hundreds of professionals, educators, caregivers, advocates, and enthusiasts from around the world to learn, connect, and share innovative practices and programs on a range of intergenerational topics, including kinship/grandfamilies. Register today!
We are also accepting nominations for the Awards Program, in the categories of Outstanding Older Adult Volunteer, Outstanding Youth Volunteer, Grandfamilies, and Intergenerational Innovation. Nominate yourself or someone who inspires you! The award nomination deadline is Friday, March 7, 2025, at 11:45 p.m. ET.
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Webinar – Ending Hidden Foster Care: Community Advocacy, Policy & Systems Change
A Second Chance, Inc. and Think of Us
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
1 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET
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The second webinar in a four-part series, this session will highlight the need for systemic change in child welfare, focusing on policy shifts, federal financing, and expanding upstream services through community partnerships. Panelists will share their lived expertise, explore current child welfare federal regulations, and offer recommendations to states and local jurisdictions.
This webinar is designed for kin caregivers, child welfare professionals, policymakers, advocates, and anyone interested in strengthening families and preventing unnecessary separations.
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2025 Training Institutes
Innovations Institute, University of Connecticut, School of Social Work
Tuesday, July 8, 2025 through Thursday, July 10, 2025
National Harbor, Maryland
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The Training Institutes is a national gathering of experts and leaders working at the federal, state, and local levels to transform public systems, programs, and services for children, youth, young adults, and their families. The 2025 Training Institutes, Building a World Where Young People Thrive, brings together nearly 2,000 practitioners, policymakers, researchers and evaluators, administrators and managers, peer support partners, Medicaid specialists, managed care experts, family and youth leaders, and educators in health and human services. Pre-Institutes Training Programs are available on Monday and Tuesday, July 6 and 7. | |
Generations Journal, Winter 2024-25
American Society on Aging
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The new issue of Generations Journal, guest edited by Wendy Lustbader of the University of Washington and Gaynell Simpson of Georgia Gwinnett College, includes more than 15 articles on the theme, “Grandparents Raising Grandchildren in the United States.” It is full of articles that are relevant to the field.
Generations United Executive Director Donna M. Butts and GRAND Voices Support Coordinator Robyn Wind wrote one of the articles, and Network Subject Matter Expert Dr. Angelique Day co-authored two of the articles. Additionally, other contributors have been featured in other Network resources.
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GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy
10-Year Anniversary Issue
Volume 8, Issue 1
National Research Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
The new issue of GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy includes more than 10 articles that are relevant to the kinship field.
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This issue includes a piece co-written by Network Director Ana Beltran; Generations United Deputy Director Jaia Lent; and Network Subject Matter Expert Melinda Perez-Porter, who is the director of the Relatives As Parents Program (RAPP) at The Brookdale Foundation Group. Another article counts Joseph Crumbley and Angelique Day, two Network subject matter experts, among its three authors, and other contributors have been featured in and/or reviewed Network resources. | |
Treating Trauma in Schools: Foundations and Practical Applications
Alliance for Inclusion & Prevention
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The course is presented asynchronously in two parts, both free of charge. Course 1: Foundations presents "Understanding Trauma and its Impact on Teaching & Learning," and Course 2: Practical Applications is "Providing Evidence-Based Treatments in Schools and Trauma-Informed Care for Special Populations.” A training certificate is awarded to those who complete each part of the course. Continuing Education Credits (CEUs) are available for social workers and mental health counselors who complete the requirements. | |
Notable Funding Opportunities | | |
Cambia Health Foundation has focused their 2025 Healthy and Connected Aging Request for Proposals (RFP) on the needs of older adult kin/grandfamily caregivers and their families. Please note that this RFP is limited to Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, and the tribal nations in this region. Applications are due by 5 p.m. PT on Thursday, February 27. | | |
Generations United Announces Leadership Transition
After nearly three decades of extraordinary leadership, Donna Butts is stepping down as Executive Director of Generations United. While this marks a significant moment for us, our board and staff are united in ensuring a smooth transition to carry forward our mission. If you know someone who you think would be right for this role, we encourage you to share your recommendation with Ben Lerner of The Find at ben@thefindpartners.com.
In addition to the webpage linked directly above, the Center for Medicaid & CHIP Services (CMCS, which is within the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) issued a CMCS Information Bulletin on January 16, 2025, with further information. Click here to access detailed tables, showing income cutoffs for household/family sizes from 1 to 14 people at various percentages of the federal poverty level, from 50% to 700%.
January 29, 2025
This article, published in Fostering Families Today, includes quotes from Network Director Ana Beltran, as well as practical tips to find legal representation for kinship families.
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Please follow the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network on LinkedIn here! |
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All of our previous newsletters are linked on our website, so you can access them anytime. |
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The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network is the first-ever national technical assistance center for those who serve grandfamilies and kinship families. It was created to help guide lasting, systemic reforms. The Network is a new way to collaborate, to work across jurisdictional and systemic boundaries, to eliminate silos, and to help one another and be helped in return. Thank you for being part of it.
We'd love to hear from you! Please send any feedback on this newsletter to mweiss@gu.org.
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The Network is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $9,950,000 with 95 percentage funded by ACL/HHS and $523,684 and 5 percentage funded by non-government sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
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