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This month, we are acknowledging National Adoption Month, National Family Caregivers Month, and Native American Heritage Month. As part of National Family Caregivers Month, the National Academy for State Health Policy has created a communications and marketing toolkit. Among the tools in the toolkit is a document of “personas” of family caregivers you might want to reach and support, including a kin/grandfamily caregiver.
Please read on to learn about our latest resources and news, as well as other resources and news from around the field.
| | Join Us for Our Upcoming Webinars! | | |
Supporting America’s Children and Families Act: Opportunities for Tribes delivering kinship support services
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
In keeping with our practice, the webinar will be one hour, followed immediately by an open Q&A session that will last for half an hour.
The purpose of this webinar is to provide information about new resources afforded under the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act, so that Tribes that operate kinship support service programs, including kinship navigation programs, can prepare to take advantage of them.
This new law reauthorizes and updates Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, a critical child welfare law that provides funding to Tribes, states, and territories, to create and operate coordinated child and family services programs. While administered by child welfare agencies, Title IV-B funds can be used for services to support and strengthen families – including kinship families – both inside and outside the child welfare system. The new law explicitly includes kinship families and clarifies that Title IV-B funds can be used for peer-to-peer support programs. It also provides for competitive grants for kinship navigator programs, including Tribal kinship navigator programs, and provides funding to support the evaluation of kinship navigator programs and prevention services. Our presenter for this webinar is Network Subject Matter Expert Angelique Day, PhD, MSW.
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Engaging Caregivers in the Community
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
In keeping with our practice, the webinar will be one hour, followed immediately by an open Q&A session that will last for half an hour.
Kinship families want and need support, and effectively engaging them is key. This begins with trust and mutual respect, which can be fostered using a relational, rather than transactional, approach. By centering lived experience, creating welcoming environments, and listening to what caregivers say they need, we build authentic relationships that connect families to both formal systems and community-based support. This is the space where genuine engagement, change, and positive outcomes happen. Join this webinar to learn more about intentional and practical strategies for engaging kinship families in the community.
| | | | 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 our page to keep up with the latest kinship news between monthly issues of this newsletter. | | What's New From the Network? | |
Honoring and Supporting Grandfamilies & Kinship Families in Your Congregation
This tip sheet, prepared by our partners at NCBA, provides background information on kinship/grandfamilies and offers suggestions to faith communities to help them better serve their members who are living in kinship/grandfamilies.
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Exemplary Program: Kids, Kin ‘n Caregivers – Virginia
This profile captures the key components of this newly designated Exemplary program. Back in 2022, when the Network opened our Exemplary Kinship Program initiative, we received four applications from small community-based organizations that needed capacity building support to achieve greater impact. We were able to provide individual coaching and group support through technical assistance from Tiffany Allen, who specializes in supporting smaller organizations.
After working with Tiffany for about a year, two of those programs reapplied for our Exemplary designation and have earned that recognition. One of those programs is the Grandfamilies-Relatives as Parents Program of Kids, Kin ‘n Caregivers (KKNC RAPP), which provides a wide range of services in coastal Virginia.
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Resource Updates
We are pleased to have over 160 resources in our resource library, and the vast majority of them are original pieces created for the Network, whether by partners, subject matter experts, or staff. Additionally, more resources are always in the works. As we continue to add to our library, we are aware that some of our existing resources include links that are no longer working, and we are in the process of reviewing them and updating links as necessary. If you come across a resource with a broken link (or any other error), please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We are also always open to any comments or questions you may have with regard to our resources. Please contact us at info@gksnetwork.org.
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Last week, our partners at NCBA held the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Carl F. West Senior Estates, a beautiful, new, affordable housing community in the District of Columbia that includes 36 units for grandparents and other relatives raising children! Check out our LinkedIn post on this milestone and join the conversation. | | | 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
Our state has a list of crimes that can bar someone from becoming a foster parent, either kinship or not. This list goes well beyond the felony convictions that the federal Adam Walsh Act says must serve as either a permanent bar or five-year bar from being a foster parent. How can we assess background check results that only list non-Adam Walsh crimes to determine if the placement will be safe for the child?
Response
Both the NARA Model standards for all foster parents, which were first developed in 2014, and the Kin-Specific Foster Home Approval Standards, which were developed in 2023 to help implement new federal flexibility allowing for separate, commonsense licensing standards for kin, have a list of factors to consider when assessing non-Adam Walsh crimes that turn up on a background check.
Kin-Specific Foster Home Approval Standards
Evaluating Criminal History and/or Abuse, Neglect History – page 22
If a kin caregiver or any other adult in the home was convicted of a crime other than those included in the federal list of automatically-disqualifying felony convictions, the kin caregiver should not be automatically rejected for approval. The agency should consider the following:
- The type of crime
- The amount of time that has passed since the crime
- The individual’s age at the time of conviction
- The seriousness of the crime
- Evidence of rehabilitation since conviction (may include completion of treatment, court-ordered classes, community service, character references, etc.)
- The total number and types of crimes, and ages at the time they were committed
- The role the individual plans to have with the child
If there is a substantiated report of child abuse or neglect involving the kin caregivers or any other adult in the home, approval should be assessed on a case-by-case basis. A recommended evaluation process can be found in the Background Check Forms (pages 48-49). Agencies should not disqualify a caregiver solely for being listed in the registry; these systems often have inaccurate or outdated information, and do not always comply with due process requirements for expungement.
NARA Model for Kin and Non-Kin
Criminal History Records Check Standards, page 9 (This language was not included in the HHS National Model, but no concerns were raised by HHS. For more information about that National Model that drew from the NARA Model, see here.)
To make an individual request, please complete this form and we will get in touch.
| | National Attention on Kinship Families | | |
The national visibility of kinship families continues to grow, and celebrations of these families now exist across the aging, child welfare, and disability systems.
- Last Thursday, the First Lady brought national attention to young people transitioning out of foster care with the signing of the Fostering the Future for American Children and Families Executive Order. The Order highlights the importance of strengthening supports, technology, and partnerships that contribute to the well-being of all youth in foster care, including over 125,000 children placed with kin.
- Casey Family Programs and the Annie E. Casey Foundation held two national gatherings this fall – one focused on supporting child welfare agencies pursuing kin-first cultures and the other on ending unnecessary group placements, with kinship placements being a key lever in that goal.
- Kin caregivers are also being recognized as part of the broader focus on caregiving in this country. The US Administration for Community Living hosted a gathering on Tuesday to honor the nation’s family caregivers – over 63 million people – including grandparent and other kin caregivers. Kinship families also received attention at the Caregiver Nation Summit earlier this month. We value both of these acknowledgements of kinship families, which build on the explicit inclusion of kin caregivers in the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers. Because there are 19 children being raised by kin outside of the foster care system for every 1 child being raised by kin within the foster care system, including kinship families in the broader web of caregiving is very impactful and can help caregivers and families identify themselves and find support.
Generations United and Network staff were pleased to participate in each of these national events and look forward to continuing to help elevate kinship families across the nation and across systems.
| | What's New Around the Network? | |
Wayfinder Kinnections Kinship Navigator Evaluation: Final Report
Child Trends
| Child Trends is the Network’s evaluation partner, and they also conduct separate evaluations for other programs across the country. This report describes the results of a quasi-experimental evaluation of Wayfinder Kinnections, a Northern California kinship navigator program. Among the evaluation’s key findings were two statistically significant findings (related to kin caregivers’ level of social support and satisfaction with services received) that met the baseline equivalence standards for the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse. | |
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Elevating Youth Engagement
Annie E. Casey Foundation
| The Annie E. Casey Foundation, in collaboration with longtime partner Cetera Inc., has released Elevating Youth Engagement (EYE) — a free training curriculum designed to help child welfare leaders, youth-serving organizations, and communities authentically partner with young people who have experienced foster care. Co-designed with young leaders, it offers step-by-step guidance for supporting youth-adult teams as they collaborate to improve child welfare practices, policies, and programs. | |
Changing States' Approach to Aging Services: A Guide on the Person-Centered, Trauma-Informed Approach for State Units on Aging
National Aging & Trauma Workgroup
Jewish Federations of North America - Center on Aging, Trauma, and Holocaust Survivor Care
| This resource focuses on integrating the person-centered, trauma-informed (PCTI) approach into service delivery. Although the document is designed for service providers in State Units on Aging, the PCTI approach is universal; it can be used by any person at any level of any organization, in any care setting, and with any population. | |
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Improving Outcomes for Young Adults and the Systems that Serve Them: A Playbook of Best Practices
American Public Human Services Association (APHSA)
| Developed by APHSA, in partnership with Youth Villages and FosterClub, this playbook was co-designed alongside young adult leaders with lived experience and public agency partners. It provides a shared vision, core guiding principles, and actionable strategies to support youth transitioning from foster care into adulthood with stability, belonging, and opportunity. It is grounded in the voices of youth themselves and is designed to inform practice, policy, and system transformation across human services. | |
Registration is Open for the 44th Annual Protecting Our Children Conference
National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA)
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| The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), a Network partner organization, proudly hosts the largest national gathering focused on Native child advocacy issues each year. The multi-day conference is the leading event dedicated to Tribal child welfare and well-being, attracting over 2,000 attendees annually—and growing! The 2026 conference will take place from Sunday, March 29, 2026 through Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Early bird rates are available until January 31, 2026. If you cannot attend in person, there is a virtual option that will provide access to the three general sessions, featuring nearly a dozen speakers and over five hours of content. | |
Notable Funding Opportunities
(listed in order of application deadline)
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The Centene Foundation partners with organizations with deep community expertise and history. These partnerships focus on three distinct pillars: healthcare, social services, and education. The Fall application cycle is open until Sunday, November 30.
The National Alliance for Children’s Grief and the New York Life Foundation are looking to fund local education events that equip professionals, such as teachers, counselors, and social workers, with the skills and knowledge they need to better support bereaved children in their communities. These funds are designed to enhance access to free or low-cost, high-quality training and foster collaboration in community settings. Applications are due by 8 p.m. ET on Monday, December 1.
The SpartanNash Foundation has three focus areas: hunger, heroes, and hope. To be eligible, an organization must be located within a 30-mile radius of a SpartanNash corporate office, distribution center, or retail store. The final grant application deadline of 2025 is Friday, December 12.
Spark Good Local Grants from Walmart focus on three areas: creating opportunity, advancing sustainability, and strengthening community. The final grant application deadline of 2025 is Wednesday, December 31.
The Community Access to Child Health (CATCH) Program is a national initiative of the American Academy of Pediatrics that supports pediatricians in leading innovative, community-based efforts that increase children’s access to optimal health or well-being. Applicants can apply for a planning grant or an implementation grant. Applications are due by 11:59 p.m. CT on Tuesday, January 20.
T-Mobile’s Project 10Million offers free internet and free mobile hotspots to K-12 students who participate in certain federal programs. School administrators can apply for the students in their schools or districts, and caregivers can apply for the students in their households.
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Aging & Independence, County of San Diego Health and Human Services Agency, Fall 2025
This piece profiles Jeani Naylor, a grandmother who is raising her granddaughter in San Diego. Jeani is one of the lived experts who is working on our Bridging Systems for Kinship Families project, bringing irreplaceable experience and insight to our collaborative work.
Child Trends, November 19, 2025
Our partners at Child Trends have conducted a new analysis of American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) family living arrangements. In addition to finding that AIAN children live in households with their grandparents at nearly double the rate of all U.S. children, they found that 6.5% of all American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) children under age 18 live with their grandparent(s) and do not have a parent living in their home with them. This data point is more than triple the comparative figure for all U.S. children, 2.1%. While the overrepresentation of AIAN children in kinship/grandfamilies is likely a product of the centuries-long shameful treatment of this community by the United States and the many inequities this community continues to face, it is also a reflection of their cultural strengths and resilience. On a related note, many grandparents who are raising grandchildren in Native communities have elder status, and Casey Family Programs recently published a brief on the role elders can play in helping children thrive and preventing them from entering foster care.
Children’s Bureau, November 19, 2025
The federal government has rescinded the final rule entitled “Designated Placement Requirements Under Titles IV-E and IV-B for LGBTQI+ Children.” The decision in this matter is backdated and effective as of June 13, 2025.
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, November 14, 2025
This article describes Project Healthy Grandparents (PHG), a Network-designated Exemplary program that is part of the Georgia State University School of Public Health’s Mark Chaffin Centers for Healthy Development. PHG sends registered nurses and social workers to conduct monthly home visits with kin caregivers who live within a 20-mile radius of campus, while also providing the families with access to other community resources. Families that live farther away are eligible for short-term case management. A video embedded in the article shares the goals and impact of PHG.
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), November 14, 2025
CMS has released the premiums, deductibles, and coinsurance amounts for the Medicare Part A and Part B programs, and the 2026 Medicare Part D income-related monthly adjustment amounts.
USA Today, October 30, 2025
This article tells the story of Rochelle, a grandmother in Texas who began raising her two grandchildren, Jayden and Briana, after the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services removed them from their parents. Rochelle, who was already in the midst of a career transition fueled by a scholarship to a dual-degree master’s program in divinity and social work, faced significant red tape and interacted with a revolving door of case workers as she sought assistance with child care, losing income and time along the way. Network Director Ana Beltran spoke to the reporter, Jayme Fraser, to provide background for a long reporting project on kinship, which is still continuing. The article includes links to the Network’s Kinship/Grandfamilies: Strengths and Challenges fact sheet and the press release about the new State of Grandfamilies and Kinship Care report from Generations United, The Costs of Caregiving: Why Supporting Grandfamilies & Kinship Care is Good for Children and Our Nation’s Economy.
Dayton Children’s, October 27, 2025
After noticing that many local kinship families were facing housing instability, Dayton Children’s community health workers joined with local, state, and national partners to embark on a unique project to create a specialized housing community for these families. The community will have 26 homes, each with three bedrooms and two bathrooms, as well as a playground and a community room. Phase one of the project is complete, and work continues to bring it to fruition.
The Imprint, October 7, 2025
With the government shutdown over, we wanted to re-elevate that there is a new Assistant Secretary of the Administration for Children and Families, Alex Adams. Adams previously led the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare (DHW), and he has made foster care a priority in his work in this field. The Network team was privileged to work with him and his team while he led Idaho DHW. The Network continues to enjoy working with DHW and its partners as part of our Bridging Systems for Kinship Families work.
KIRO 7 News, September 25, 2025
This article, and its accompanying video, features two kin caregivers in Washington State, describing how they stepped in to care for their relative children and noting that Catholic Community Services of Western Washington has helped them along the way. Catholic Community Services of Western Washington recently received a grant from Cambia Health Foundation to support their work with kin caregivers, and Cambia Health Foundation partnered with KIRO 7 in Seattle to spread the word about this work.
Better and Longer Podcast
This podcast episode is hosted by Arcelia Armstrong, who is the director of Caregiver Support and Kinship Navigator Programs at the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio, which earned the Network’s Exemplary program designation. In this episode, Chanda Beal and Amy Galvan, both from Lucas County Children Services, discuss their work with kinship/grandfamilies, with a particular emphasis on the families that have formed as a result of the opioid epidemic.
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The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network is the only 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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