Kinship care of children means relatives have 24-hour full responsibility for raising children. There are more than three million kinship care families in America today and more than six million children. These families are from all segments of our society - rich, poor, urban, rural, a hundred ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Some caregivers are very young, some are very old. Most are grandparents who have lovingly taken on the job of raising their grandchildren.

Approximately fifteen percent of children in kinship care are living with relatives because they have been the victims of child abuse or neglect and placed by the child welfare system with approved and willing relatives in the formal Relative Foster Care system. All the other relative caregivers in our country have willingly taken children through request of the parents or some other source not in the child welfare system, including military or incarcerated parents.
 
Though the problems faced by all the kinship families are different, the hopes are the same: to raise healthy children in a safe and loving environment. But as many kinship families can testify, the task is far from easy. Unlike raising children in a parent-headed household, which is difficult all by itself, kinship families also face a myriad of public services that may be called upon to assist one problem or another. Often the rules to obtain the appropriate service are frustrating and intimidating, leaving kinship care families to struggle through the best options available to them.

Kinship care of children is not a "they" problem. Caring for related children can happen
to anyone at anytime. When the kin caregiver says "Yes", the caregiver’s second response is usually, "What now?"

I usually recommend that relatives take a deep breath and their vitamins, then buy an
accordion style file folder and a personal calendar, because they are about to begin a phenomenal journey. First get organized by securing “important” papers such as birth certificates, social security numbers, medical records, and information, including contact numbers on services they will be contacting. Divide the folder into critical areas which
will depend greatly on whether the children came through child welfare placement or relatives volunteered the care through an agreement with the parents.

Priorities caregivers are likely to consider early in the journey are legal authority (guardianship) and financial resources, then medical and possible counseling issues. Sometimes these concerns seem to happen all at once. Seeking out a Kinship Care Resource Center in the community may be a great help, though, sadly, a good resource center for relative caregivers is not often available. Area Agency on Aging, the local Senior Center, or Department of Health and Human Services, are possible sources to begin the search. Some communities have a 2-1-1 information service by telephone.

Some issues are very specific: children coming from another state or children with American Indian tribal affiliation. Department of Health and Human Services should be able to help with these issues, but if not some specific agencies are available.

For many caregivers, the realization that the life they had with friends and spouses, and coworkers is now changed drastically. Everything centers on the needs of the children. This is what Kinship Care providers have taken on, and this is why I call them courageous.

Contact Helene LaBrecque Ellis via email at hellis7@msn.com or by phone at 517-256-3277. For informtion on how to purchase her book, "A Kinship Guide to Rescuing Children For Grandparents and Other Relatives As Parents," email info@chicagoroadpublishing.com.