Kinship in Florida 12-16

KINSHIP CAREPresented by Susan Farver

Kinship [email protected]

The 3 Types of Caregivers

• Foster Care – Non-relative caregiver selected by the state.• Relative Caregiver- Appointed family member by a court in

a dependency case. This can be a first generation family member or a close family friend.• Kinship Caregiver – Is an informal arrangement outside of

the court. No legal authority appoints this care. It is a relationship between the bio parents and the grandparents or relative to care for the child.

Florida – The Situation

• Over 500,000 children under age 18 live in homes with grandparents or other relatives.• 345,000 children live with a relative care giver/grandparent• 145,000 reportedly living with a grandparent as a kinship

arrangement

The Problems

• The state of Florida and many other states in the United States do not have a process for locating family. Consequently children are placed in foster care early on after shelter and the family doesn’t know about it.• It’s very difficult to get the child after it’s been placed in a foster

home. One of the bio parents needs to complete a 12 month case plan to regain custody. Maybe then you can help!• There is a huge issue with inequality with respect to subsidies for

kinship and relative caregivers. Foster families receive the largest sum. Relative caregivers get a much smaller amount and informal kinship receives $0

What Needs To Happen

• Laws to require each county to establish a process to locate and notify family members before placement or permanent placement of a child.• Legislation to equalize the subsidy between the caregiver

groups. Fair and equal for all including kinship.• More advocacy programs funded by the state. Programs are

primarily run as non-profit agencies that do not have regular funding and ultimately fail. There are only a few consistent sources, Kids In Distress in Broward and Legal Aid in Broward

It’s Going To Be Okay!

Kinship ConnectSusan Farver, [email protected]