GRANDFAMILIES ALERT

Check Out the 2023 State of Grandfamilies Report

The newly released 2023 State of Grandfamilies report, Building Resilience: Supporting Grandfamilies' Mental Health and Wellness, brings attention to the mental health and emotional wellness of grandfamilies, sheds light on their resilience and the challenges they face, and provides innovative solutions and resources to better support them.

Download the report overview, full report, infographic, key findings, speaker bios, press release, and event recordings to learn more about strengthening these incredible families.

Special thanks to The Brookdale Foundation Group for making this report and event possible, and to Centene Corporation for their valuable support! 

Partner With Us!

State-Specific Adoption & Guardianship Comparison Charts

Generations United, with support from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, is developing state-specific comparison charts to help grandfamilies understand the difference between adoption and guardianship for children leaving foster care to permanency with relatives. For this project, we identify an organization in each state and ask them to partner with us by answering a set of state-specific questions, placing their logo on the publication along with ours, and distributing the resource. We are currently seeking state or local partners in Arkansas, District of Columbia, Idaho, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Dakota, and Tennessee.

Please contact Adina Wambua, Project Assistant, at awambua@gu.org if you are interested in partnering with Generations United on an Adoption and Guardianship Comparison Chart in your state! 

Resource Guides for Kin Caregivers and Those Who Work with Them

The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network (Network) has compiled a helpful list of resource guides for kinship caregivers. These state-specific guides explain the legal options available to grandparents, relatives, and close family friends raising children. With laws and policies that widely vary state to state, these resources can provide critical support on topics like obtaining legal custody or guardianship, enrolling children in school, accessing public benefits, finding respite care, and more. Access the resource.

Lessons from Conducting a Participatory Evaluation of a

Kinship Navigator Program  

This paper shares lessons from involving kinship caregivers in all stages of evaluating a kinship navigator program. The study benefited from the caregivers' deep engagement in the process—from designing the questions, to collecting and analyzing the data, to presenting the findings as actionable insights. This was a formative evaluation of the HALOS Kinship Navigator Program in Charleston, South Carolina, with funding from The Duke Endowment. It may be a resource for other programs looking to embrace kinship caregivers and program staff in the evaluation process. Please find the article here.     

New Guidance Promotes School Stability for

Foster Youth

The Children’s Bureau (CB) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is committed to collaborating with the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education in the U.S. Department of Education to support academic success and emotional well-being for children in foster care. The Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague Letter on July 25, 2023 about the importance of collaboration and joint decision-making between educational agencies and child welfare agencies to prioritize the educational stability of students in foster care.

CB issued Information Memorandum ACYF-CB-IM-23-09 on Interagency Collaboration between Child Welfare and Educational Agencies to Support the Academic Success of Children and Youth in Foster Care. The purpose of this Information Memorandum (IM) is to remind state and tribal title IV-E agencies of the school enrollment and educational stability requirements for students in foster care included in title IV-E and the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and to share promising practices from a number of jurisdictions. Please direct inquiries to Children’s Bureau Regional Program Managers | The Administration for Children and Families (hhs.gov).

CAREGIVER CORNER

NPR Revisits Conversation with Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Deepa Fernandes, cohost for National Public Radio’s Here & Now, revisits a conversation she had last December with two Generations United GRAND Voices, Eugene Vickerson and Linda Lewis, about what their experience as grandparents has really been like caring for their grandchildren. Check it out here.