|
This month, we are acknowledging Bereaved Parents Awareness Month, BIPOC Mental Health Awareness Month, Disability Pride Month, Make a Difference to Children Month, and Social Wellness Month. We are also thinking about everyone who has been impacted by the catastrophic flooding in Texas.
Please read on to learn about our latest resources and news, as well as other news from around the field.
| | Join us for our upcoming webinars! | | | |
|
Federal Funding of Kinship Services in Action
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
| | Building on Funding Kinship Services: A Primer on Federal Funding Sources, a resource we published last year, this webinar will provide concrete examples of how kinship-serving organizations across the country are accessing and using federal funds to support kin caregivers. Learn from several organizations that currently access different forms of federal funding and explore various ways to approach federal funding opportunities for kinship care. This webinar is designed for community-based organizations that provide support to kin caregivers; public agency representatives from child welfare, aging, TANF, and other kinship-serving groups; and cross-sector funders interested in expanding kinship supports and services. | | | |
|
Improving Food Security in Kinship/Grandfamilies
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
| | | | Since we launched our LinkedIn page in September 2023, we’ve been using it to share the latest news, data, and replicable practices and tools to support your work with kinship families. Follow us to keep up with our latest news between monthly issues of this newsletter. | | What's New From the Network? | |
Uneven Support for Kinship/Grandfamilies: State TANF Child-Only Grants
This fact sheet, produced in partnership with Child Trends, presents state-level information on TANF child-only benefit recipients; benefit amounts; and select state policies as they relate to children raised by their grandparents, other relatives, or close family friends.
| |
| |
|
Improving Support for Kinship/Grandfamilies: State Strategies for TANF Child-Only Grants and Related Assistance
This tip sheet – written by our own Ana Beltran, with reviews and input from many other experts – provides background information on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) child-only grants. It shares common barriers to TANF child-only access and seeks to provide states with replicable practices and policies to improve access.
| |
Kinship/Grandfamilies Data Update
We have updated the data on our Kinship/Grandfamilies Data page to align with the newly released data from the federal Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), which is now offering an online dashboard of data. To access our data page, go to the “Who We Serve” tab and click on Kinship/Grandfamilies Data.
| |
| |
Check out our recent “Question of the Week” post on LinkedIn to learn about how some states are helping new kinship families with their immediate needs. | | Individual Assistance Spotlight | | | | 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. | | |
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
My organization is interested in developing a new service to offer legal assistance to help kin caregivers establish a legal relationship with the child(ren) they are caring for. Are there good examples of how others are providing this service?
Response
Legal assistance is one of the most urgent needs for kin caregivers so they can access services and supports for the children in their care. There are many helpful models of providing legal assistance to kin caregivers around the country. One of our resources, Legal Service Models for Kin Caregivers, summarizes those models and provides profiles of organizations doing good work. The goal of this piece is to provide replicable ideas to others wanting to provide supportive legal assistance to kinship families in their communities.
Regarding families who are involved in the child welfare system, Generations United, with support from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, created a brief, a national comparison chart, and state-specific charts that compare adoption and guardianship for children exiting foster care with their kin caregivers. The charts can be used to help kinship families make informed decisions about which legal relationship is best for their families.
To make an individual request, please complete this form and we will get in touch.
| | We enjoyed getting to see/meet those of you who were able to join us at the Generations United conference in Louisville at the end of June. Thank you to those of you who attended and/or presented – your contributions helped make the conference a success! During the conference, we interviewed a few lived experts and a program director, and we’re working to create videos highlighting their stories and their perspective on the Network’s impact. Stay tuned! |
| Presentations by the Network | | | | On Monday, July 21, Leland Kiang, of Network partner organization USAging, and the Network’s Kylee Kern will be presenting a Fast-Track Session at USAging’s 50th Annual Conference and Tradeshow. Their session is called “Kinship/Grandfamilies: Legal Issues, Options and Solutions.” Network Assistant Director Melissa Devlin and Network Project Assistant Roh Ghafoori will also be attending the conference, and Roh, Melissa, and Kylee will staff the Network's exhibit booth. If you’re at the USAging conference, please join Leland and Kylee’s session and stop by our table! | | What's New Around the Network? | |
Call for Papers
GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy
Submission Deadline: November 1, 2025
| GrandFamilies is an online, peer-reviewed journal. It has expanded its focus, going from concentrating only on grandparents raising grandchildren to encompassing all kinship families. Practice briefs from those in the field are welcome, as are full articles, research briefs, and policy briefs. | |
| |
|
Medicaid Food Security Policy Dashboard
Medicaid Food Security Network
| The Medicaid Food Security Network is a group of healthcare and food security organizations and advocates, mobilizing Medicaid systems to become a key partner in addressing food and nutrition insecurity, with an emphasis on closing the enrollment gap in SNAP and WIC. This Dashboard is the result of reviews of 1115 waivers, Medicaid Managed Care Contracts, and other policy documents across the country, and it provides examples of how Medicaid is addressing food insecurity among children and families. | | |
|
June 2025 Report to Congress on Medicaid and CHIP
Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission
| |
The Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission (MACPAC) is a nonpartisan legislative branch agency that provides policy and data analysis and makes recommendations to Congress, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the states on a wide array of issues affecting Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). MACPAC is required to submit reports to Congress by March 15 and June 15 of each year. This June 2025 report contains five chapters, focusing on a range of topics.
| |
Notable Funding Opportunities
(listed in order of application deadline)
| | |
The Indigenous Tomorrows Fund (ITF) supports projects that uplift young people and strengthen pathways toward community well-being, cultural continuity, and self-determined futures. Projects should align with one or more of the following areas: promoting food justice and access to nourishing foods for children; advancing community health and wellness; and strengthening connections between food, culture, and healing across generations. Applications are due by Friday, July 18.
The current cycle of the Grief Reach Grant Program focuses on capacity building—strengthening the internal operations, infrastructure, and sustainability of organizations that serve children who are grieving. Applications are due by 8:00 p.m. ET on Monday, July 21.
USAging is currently accepting applications for two funding opportunities: Caregiver Navigation Service Evaluation Sites and Innovative Caregiver Services and Supports Pilot Sites. Both opportunities are focused on enhancing the Aging Network’s capacity to deliver innovative, person-centered supports that meet the needs of our nation’s indispensable caregivers, including kin caregivers. Watch a recorded webinar about these opportunities to learn more. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, August 1.
The Tribal HUD-VA Supportive Housing Program Expansion (Tribal HUD-VASH) provides grants for tribes and tribally designated housing entities to provide rental assistance for Native American veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, living on or near a reservation or other Indian areas. The program combines rental assistance from HUD with case management and clinical and supportive services provided by the VA. Applications are due by Friday, August 15.
The U.S. Administration for Children and Families has issued a new request for pilot proposals for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Pilot Program. All state and territory TANF programs, including members of the cohort of applicants selected in November 2024 and deselected by the Trump Administration, are encouraged to apply. TANF is a vital program for kinship families – particularly child-only grants and related services. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on Friday, August 15.
| | |
USAToday Series on Kinship Families
June 15, 2025
Network Director Ana Beltran spoke with reporter Jayme Fraser as she was preparing her beautiful series on kinship families. Fraser powerfully shows the intergenerational impact of state decisions and the extraordinary lengths some people and families are forced – yet willing – to go as they try to protect their loved ones and give them love and stability. We appreciate her shining a light on the families and linking to our popular Kinship/ Grandfamilies: Strengths and Challenges resource. The story is split into three chapters: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3, and there is an associated video.
Apple Valley News Now, July 7, 2025
Washington State has implemented kin-specific foster home approval standards, making it simpler for kin caregivers who are raising children in foster care to become licensed and receive support from the state. The kin-specific approval standards maintain safety protections, reduce bureaucracy and paperwork, and help kinship families. Washington is just one of over 10 states – and 5 tribes – to be implementing this federal flexibility.
National Academy for State Health Policy Blog, July 8, 2025
This blog post provides details on health-related provisions of the new law, including a table summarizing key features, and shares the implications of these provisions for individuals and states across the country.
The Information Memorandum summarizes notable provisions of this federal law, enacted January 4, 2025, which reauthorizes and amends Title IV-B of the Social Security Act. Title IV-B is an important source of funding for kinship services.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expanding access to vital care for American Indian and Alaska Native communities by approving Medicaid State Plan Amendments (SPAs) in several states. Indian Health Service (IHS) and Tribal clinics in Minnesota, New Mexico, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington, and Wyoming are now authorized to provide Medicaid clinic services beyond the physical clinic site, including in homes, schools, and other appropriate community locations.
Created by a coalition of hunger-fighting organizations – including the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC), a Network subject matter expert organization – this website, available in multiple languages, provides information about SUN Bucks/Summer EBT. For more kinship-specific information about summer nutrition, check out our resource on the topic, produced in partnership with FRAC and released earlier this summer.
| | |
Please follow the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network on LinkedIn here! |
|  |
All of our previous newsletters are linked on our website, so you can access them anytime. |
| Did you receive this newsletter as a forwarded email? You can sign up to get it in your inbox every month! | | |
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.
| | |
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.
|
| | | |
