|
This month, we are acknowledging the 36th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Bereaved Parents Awareness Month, Disability Pride Month, Make a Difference to Children Month, and Social Wellness 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 Virtual Event! | | |
Office Hours – Federal Nutrition Programs & Kinship/Grandfamilies Series: WIC and CACFP
2:00 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Bring your questions! Clarissa Hayes, Deputy Director, Child Nutrition Programs & Policy at the Food Research & Action Center (FRAC, the Network’s subject matter expert organization for nutrition), will provide information on the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which can be used to provide meals and snacks at child care centers and family child care homes. Susan Beaudoin, FRAC’s Senior Program Manager, WIC, will discuss the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), which caregivers can use to provide healthy foods and other services for the infants and children under age five in their care.
| | |
Kinship news, resources, and events are available throughout the month, not just in our monthly newsletter. Follow our LinkedIn page to keep up with the latest kinship news between monthly issues of this newsletter.
| | What's New From the Network? | |
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): Help for Kin Caregivers
This fact sheet, an update to a longstanding Generations United resource, features common questions from kin caregivers, with answers that apply regardless of where they live. Because there are also many questions that have different answers depending on the jurisdiction, this fact sheet ends with contact information for each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
| |
Supporting Men Raising Kin
Men can be the invisible, unsung caregivers in kinship families. Whether single or partnered, male kin caregivers have distinct strengths and needs. To create this tip sheet, our partners at ZERO TO THREE asked three men about their experiences and how programs could better support them.
| | Our resource library now contains over 145 practical tools and materials! To help you find exactly what you're looking for, the resource library includes both an open search field and an option to search by topic, and we remain available to answer your questions. | | |
Behind every kinship family story is someone who stepped up when it mattered most. Check out this LinkedIn post to learn about Doug and his family and get a real sense of why supporting kinship and grandfamilies matters. | | 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 TA request and response. As is typical for this spotlight, the request below only required an email response. Many of our requests benefit from more intensive involvement from our TA team. We often host meetings with peers or other subject matter experts; review data and policies; and provide specific guidance to help enhance programs, implement policies, or otherwise improve services for kin.
Request
I am interested in learning more about how to bring programs and services/supports directly to kin caregivers in a rural community.
Response
One of our resources, Reaching Rural Kinship/Grandfamilies, offers suggestions for serving kinship/grandfamilies in rural areas, like building trust, offering multiple ways to connect, and collaborating with other organizations.
Additionally, a Family Resource Center (FRC) may provide services to kinship/grandfamilies in your local rural areas. Learn more about FRCs in Family Resource Center Services and Supports for Kinship/Grandfamilies.
To make an individual request, please complete this form and we will get in touch.
| | |
"They are the nation’s leading experts on kinship. Having them come to Idaho and help support our state—that in itself is huge. People in our state notice that attention from the national level. It helps bring people to the table."
Jen Haddad, Idaho Department of Health and Welfare
| | What's New Around the Network? | | |
Joint Meeting of the U.S. Administration for Community Living’s Family Caregiving Advisory Councils – TOMORROW, Wednesday, July 29, 12:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m. ET
On July 29, the Recognize, Assist, Include, Support, and Engage (RAISE) Family Caregiving Advisory Council and the Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (SGRG) will meet to review updates to the National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers and vote changes into federal clearance.
The agenda includes a panel discussion on implementing the strategy, featuring U.S. Administration for Community Living Principal Deputy Administrator Mary Lazare and philanthropic leaders. Our director, Ana Beltran, who is also an appointed member of the SGRG Council, is honored to have been asked to provide remarks celebrating the history of the Council’s work.
The meeting will be held in a hybrid format, with in-person attendance in Washington, DC, and a livestream available for remote participants. Preregistration for in-person attendance has closed, but no registration is required to join the livestream.
| |
Notable Funding Opportunities
(listed in order of application deadline)
| | | |
The Scaife Family Foundation has an area of focus that centers on issues concerning women’s and children’s health, safety, and welfare. The next deadline for proposals is Saturday, August 1.
The U.S. Administration for Children and Families is forecasting a grant opportunity called Diaper Distribution Demonstration Research Pilot (DDDRP). The estimated application deadline is Monday, August 10.
The U.S. Administration for Children and Families is accepting applications to the Title IV-E Prevention Accelerator Grants program. The deadline is Monday, August 17.
The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration is accepting applications to the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinics (CCBHCs) Planning, Development, and Implementation Grant and the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Improvement and Advancement Grant. The deadline for both applications is Monday, August 17.
The U.S. Administration for Children and Families is accepting applications to a grant opportunity called Affordable Housing and Supportive Services Demonstration. The deadline is Monday, August 24.
The U.S. Administration for Community Living is accepting applications to its Legal Assistance Enhancement Program Grants. The deadline is Tuesday, August 25.
| | |
|
June 18, 2026
The leaders of the U.S. Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released this letter together as part of their commitment to addressing the overdose crisis. This letter focuses on the idea of authorizing appropriately trained and licensed pharmacists to prescribe medications for opioid use disorder, consistent with federal law and state standards of care. ACF, SAMHSA, and CMS encourage collaboration across child welfare, behavioral health, Medicaid agencies; state pharmacy boards; and other state licensing agencies to ensure policies promote access to care while maintaining patient safety, professional accountability, and interprofessional collaboration.
June 16, 2026
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) has announced four new interagency agreements designed to reduce federal bureaucracy and improve the efficient delivery of federally funded programs and activities to better support students and families. These agreements follow 10 agency partnerships signed over the past year. The new partnerships are with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). HHS will partner with ED on special education and rehabilitative services, and DOJ will partner with ED on civil rights enforcement, student privacy protection, and training and advisory services.
June 12, 2026
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury released guidance to support states, territories, and Tribes in establishing Fostering the Future Accounts for eligible youth in foster care. The guidance covers eligibility requirements, operational procedures for account set-up and management, and protocols for ensuring account continuity when custody arrangements change.
June 9, 2026
The Elder Justice Coordinating Council (EJCC) is chaired by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, and the Administration for Community Living serves as the lead coordinating agency. The Action Plan builds on the EJCC’s 2014 Eight Recommendations, with measurable steps to prevent harm, disrupt exploitation, hold bad actors accountable, and connect older Americans to help.
May 27, 2026
This video and associated short article both shine a light on kinship families within the foster care system in San Diego County, California. San Diego is our county-based partner in the Bridging Systems for Kinship Families initiative, and one of the featured kin caregivers in the video, Jean, serves as a lived expert on the Bridging Systems team.
|
| |
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 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.
| | |
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.
|
| | | |
