Frankie is 14 years old and lives with his sister, brothers, and moms. He and his sister were adopted when they were 2 years old and 4 years old, respectively. He loves spending time with his aunts, uncles, and cousins and loves being part of a big family.

Learn about negotiating boundaries, communication, support, and normalcy from a young person formally in foster care and her adoptive parents.

Highlights the role agency resources and family support can play in helping kinship families face challenges. This video discusses an aunt's decision to become a full-time caregiver for her niece and her niece's daughter, and the importance home visits played in the transition.

Shares Stephen’s story about being a community-based provider and policymaker in Florida, the need for laws that empower caregiver decision-making, creating Florida’s reasonable and prudent parent standard (RPPS), and the effect RPPS and normalcy laws can have on foster care.

Emphasizes the importance of community and caseworker support in having the resources needed to promote family well-being, particularly when caring for children with special needs. This video highlights the perspective of a kinship caregiver who is an Athabaskan native teaching her grandchildren the Navajo culture and community traditions and passing down her grandparents' stories.

Get practical information about supporting coordinated strategic and long-term planning.

Watch this recorded webinar to learn how other jurisdictions encourage kinship care placements and then discuss kinship support with your team.

The kinship caregivers featured in the video series speak candidly about the challenges they face, the support they need, and the rewards that motivate them to continue. Use this video series and discussion guide to create a more supportive environment and develop an agency culture that responds to caregivers’ needs.

The kinship caregivers featured in the video series speak candidly about the challenges they face, the support they need, and the rewards that motivate them to continue. Use this video series and discussion guide to create a more supportive environment and develop an agency culture that responds to caregivers’ needs.

The kinship caregivers featured in the video series speak candidly about the challenges they face, the support they need, and the rewards that motivate them to continue. Use this video series and discussion guide to create a more supportive environment and develop an agency culture that responds to caregivers’ needs.

Use this discussion guide to lead your team to integrate strategies into practice for immediate improvements and to identify models you can adapt for long-term change.

Addresses the importance of being open to agency support and resources and the necessity of self-care in working through family transitions and meeting family needs. In this video, a kinship parent caring for her niece's children reflects on her family's strategies for raising children who have experienced trauma and the resources that enabled them to become effective kinship caregivers.

Highlights the significant impact agency staff have on the kinship and foster parent experience and in helping families serve as a resource for the birth families of the children in their care. This video presents one family's story of becoming a kinship resource and how support from their foster care specialist guided their decision.

Demonstrates the benefits and challenges of serving as a kinship/foster parent and supporting and collaborating with children's biological parents. This video highlights one caregiver's decision to foster and adopt her son and become a kinship caregiver to his younger sibling. She discusses how she maintained a close, supportive relationship with their biological mother and how they ultimately created a united, blended family.

Demonstrates the life adjustments and rewards of becoming a kinship caregiver. In this video, a caregiver shares his story of what motivated him to become a kinship parent. He discusses how caring for his sister's children and a child with special needs, as well as managing a household, have changed his life and what encourages him to continue.