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This month, we’re also acknowledging National Suicide Prevention Month and Self-Care Awareness Month. Starting yesterday (September 15) and continuing through October 15, we are acknowledging National Hispanic Heritage Month.
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! | | |
Serving Relative Caregivers Together: How to Strengthen Tribal-State Relationships to Maximize Resources for Families
2:30 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
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Presented in partnership with the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA), this webinar will explore how states and Tribes can work together to best support relative caregivers and families. Our panelists are from the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians, the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, and Kinship Connections of Wyoming.
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Data-Driven Insights on Kin Placements & Kin Stability
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. ET
| | During their work in multiple states, the Foster Insights team at the University of Chicago has observed notable trends in kin placement rates and the stability of kin placements. Led by Marina Nitze, one of the Network's subject matter experts, this webinar with University of Chicago presenters will share these observed trends and discuss their implications for families and professionals involved with child welfare. Join us for a discussion on what we can learn about kinship families using placement data, and how these data-driven insights can help further the case for a kin-first culture. | | | | This month, we're celebrating two years since we launched our LinkedIn page. We’ve been using our account 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? | |
Exemplary Program: Kinship Caregivers Connect – Ohio
Our latest new resource is a profile of Kinship Caregivers Connect (KCC) in Ohio, a 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 technical assistance in the form of individual coaching and group support, both from Tiffany Allen, who specializes in supporting smaller organizations. After working with Tiffany for about a year, two of the four programs reapplied for our Exemplary designation and have earned that recognition. One of these programs, KCC, ably led by Dr. Angela Tobin, is supporting kinship caregivers in Ohio primarily through virtual, peer-led support groups.
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Celebrating National Kinship Care Month!
Last year, we began our Bridging Systems for Kinship Families initiative. For this two-year project, we are working intensively in three places – Idaho, Oneida Nation, and San Diego County – each selected after a competitive application process. In each jurisdiction, we are bringing together professionals from multiple government agencies and community-based organizations in order to improve collaboration, coordination, and supports for kinship families. All three of our partner jurisdictions are celebrating National Kinship Care Month. Over the weekend, Idaho hosted three simultaneous Idaho Kinship Family Day celebrations. Oneida Nation has made an announcement through their staff communication and has posted about kinship families on social media, with more posts planned for the rest of the month. San Diego has launched a new Kinship Families webpage, which includes a special section for National Kinship Care Month.
| | 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 program just received additional funding for marketing and outreach to kinship families. What tips or advice do you have to reach more families?
Response
From April to September 2024, the Network and its partners at ZERO TO THREE and NCBA held a five-session learning community devoted to sharing outreach strategies for connecting with and supporting kinship/grandfamilies. Check out this toolkit that summarizes the learnings from that community. You may also be interested in this tip sheet: "We know grandfamilies are out there. How do we find them?" Partnerships, especially partnerships with lived experts, can provide vital insight on how to connect with families. The two resources below may also provide some new ideas.
To make an individual request, please complete this form and we will get in touch.
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When the Alabama Network of Family Resource Centers (ANFRC) began recognizing the unique challenges facing kinship families, Executive Director Joan Witherspoon-Norris knew she needed expert guidance. ANFRC had long served grandparents raising their grandchildren, but resources tailored to their needs in Alabama were scarce. For example, housing instability and barriers to accessing TANF benefits emerged as pressing issues.
According to Joan, the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network became an invaluable partner, offering research, resources, and expertise. They facilitated connections to similar organizations in other states and key leaders in Alabama that helped ANFRC begin developing more specialized support for these kinship families
“They are the best,” Joan said about the Network. “They do for us what we aspire to do for our family resource centers—listening to what we need, pointing us to best practices, and giving us the confidence that our next steps are going to be based on what works.”
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| Upcoming Presentations by the Network | | | | From Monday, September 29 through Wednesday, October 1, representatives from ten jurisdictions interested in pursuing kin-first work will come together in Seattle for Casey Family Programs' 2025 Kin First Culture Convening. Network Director Ana Beltran, Network Subject Matter Expert (SME) and Management Committee Member Gail Engel, and SMEs Heidi Redlich Epstein and Marina Nitze will all be participating. | | | | On Thursday, October 23, at 3 p.m. ET, the National Information & Referral Support Center at ADvancing States will hold a webinar featuring Ana and Leland Kiang, of Network partner USAging. The webinar will raise awareness about kinship families and present some example scenarios of the type of support kin caregivers might seek from professionals in the information and referral field. | | | | On Friday, November 14, SME Heidi Redlich Epstein and two practicing kinship attorneys will present at the 48th National Child Welfare Law Conference, hosted by the National Association of Counsel for Children. Their presentation, “Legal Representation for Kin: Maximizing Opportunities,” will elevate “Legal Service Models for Kin Caregivers,” a resource created by the ABA Center on Children and the Law and the Network. The conference will take place online. Register by Friday, October 31 to receive early bird registration rates. | | | | Also on Friday, November 14, Ana and Leland will present as part of Inform USA’s Virtual Gathering 2025. Their presentation is called “What You Need to Know about Kinship Navigation and Information & Referral to Support Kinship/Grandfamilies.” | | What's New Around the Network? | |
Webinar: Understanding Barriers to
Kin-Finding
Tuesday, September 23 at 1 p.m. ET
Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption and Generations United
| | | Kin-finding is a vital first step to ensure children in foster care have the opportunity to grow up in permanent, loving families who understand their background and identity. Yet across the country, many child welfare professionals face systemic barriers that limit their ability to identify, locate, and engage relatives and kin. During this webinar, Generations United will explore these barriers and offer concrete strategies for overcoming them. Presenters will share promising practices, tools, and lessons learned from the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network to support child welfare professionals and advocates in strengthening kin-finding efforts and building systems that truly prioritize family connections. Those who cannot attend the live webinar will be able to watch the recording in the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption’s online library for child welfare professionals. | |
Webinar: What Nonprofits Need to Know About the Current Federal Grant Landscape
Monday, October 6 at 3 p.m. ET
National Council of Nonprofits
| | Many nonprofits are struggling to understand how to best navigate recent changes to federal grants. Register for this webinar to learn what nonprofits need to consider as they plan for future federal grants – what to think about in the application process, how to navigate the new grant certifications, and how to plan for new processes. | |
Annual Conference Call for Presentations
Deadline: Friday, October 31
National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA)
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| NICWA’s 44th Annual Protecting Our Children Conference will bring over 2,000 conference attendees to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, from Sunday, March 29 through Wednesday, April 1, 2026. The conference will feature more than 85 workshops. Key areas of interest for workshops are children’s mental health; child welfare, foster care, and adoption services; judicial and legal affairs; and youth and family involvement. | | |
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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. | |
In Support of Caregivers: Key Accomplishments of Lifespan Respite
Care Program Grantees
ARCH National Respite Network and Resource Center
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| Lifespan Respite Care programs are coordinated systems of accessible, community-based respite care services for family caregivers of children and adults of all ages with disabilities and/or chronic conditions. Such programs reduce duplication of effort and assist in the development of respite care infrastructures at the state and local levels. This report describes key accomplishments of state lifespan respite grantees, providing multiple specific examples from state practices for each accomplishment. | |
New Resource on State-by-State Impacts of Budget Reconciliation Law
Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF)
| This new resource, which is available as a Google Sheets spreadsheet, details each of the provisions of this summer’s reconciliation law that pertains to Medicaid, Medicare, or the Marketplace, as well as which states are affected by each provision. Additionally, CCF researchers have included pertinent information about the implementation date, affected populations, and exemptions allowed. | | Notable Funding Opportunity | | LISC and Foot Locker, Inc., through the Foot Locker Foundation, are launching a fifth round of grants for the Foot Locker Foundation Community Empowerment Program, which funds nonprofit community organizations that connect youth to mentorship, education, career development, and health services. To be eligible, a nonprofit must operate in a low-to-moderate income community within one of the following 14 cities: Atlanta, GA; Baltimore, MD; Chicago, IL; Dallas, TX; Detroit, MI; Houston, TX; Los Angeles, CA; New York City, NY; Newark, NJ; Oakland, CA; Philadelphia, PA; San Francisco, CA; Tampa, FL; and Washington, DC. Applications are due by Tuesday, September 30. | | |
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San Diego County applied for and was selected to participate in Bridging Systems for Kinship Families, a two-year initiative of the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network that brings together professionals from multiple county agencies and organizations to improve collaboration, coordination, and supports for kinship families. This summer, the County received an Achievement Award from the National Association of Counties. Earned in the category of Community and Economic Development, the award recognizes the work of a program that they call Strengthening Kinship Care: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Initiative. Congratulations, San Diego County!
If you’ve recently received recognition for your work with kinship families in your community, we’d love to hear about it and raise awareness about it. Share it on LinkedIn and tag us, or send us an email at info@gksnetwork.org, and you may see it on our feed or in this space!
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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 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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