CENTER FOR CHILD AND FAMILY PROGRAMS - PUBLICATIONS
THE KINSHIP TRAINING MATERIALS
The Kinship Training Materials were developed to use with casework staff and kinship caregivers. They include two curricula: one for staff which incorporates the use of three videotapes, and one for caregivers. Each of the curricula comes in a binder that makes it convenient to add other materials and references. These materials were developed by the Department of Social Work at Eastern Michigan University in collaboration with the Michigan Family Independence Agency as part of a three-year project funded by the Administration for Children, Youth, and Families. The primary goal of the project was to promote permanence for children in kinship care by addressing system barriers and developing practice models, case planning, and review mechanisms that are culturally responsive and support family continuity.
Under the programmatic leadership of co-directors Crystal Mills, EMU Department of Social Work, and Debra Usher, Michigan Family Independence Agency, the program was tested with a randomly selected sample of kinship caregiver families using a wraparound practice model. Project staff tested innovative practice methods and systematically collected information that assisted the project in better understanding the resources and needcs of kinship caregivers and the practice methods that were most effective. The products listed here were developed as part of the project and have been piloted with staff and kinship caregivers in four Michigan counties.
The Kinship Training Program
The Kinship Training Program is organized around four 3-hour modules. Each module is designed to provide factual information, sensitize workers to the strengths and needs of kinship families, and to highlight strategies and techniques for developing effective helping relationships and interventions with the extended family system to support intra-familial child placements.
Module I provides an historical overview of kinship care both as an informal cultural practice and as part of the formal child welfare system.
Module II looks at family organization, structure and function, and directly addresses the myths that mitigate intra-familial child placements.
Module III covers definitions of family and emphasizes cultural practices governing family organization and function, as well as family assessment skills, including both the tools for systematic assessmemt as well as logical processes that assist in the identification and tracking of relevant information.
Module IV focuses on a wraparound service model emphasizing strategies and skills to assist families in mobilizing resources both within the family and within the community.
Each module includes video or case stimuli, didactics and/or small group exercises. Each is designed to help child welfare workers develop the tools necessary to understand the complexities of extended kinship family systems, be able to identify intra-familial strengths, resources, and exchange patterns, and be able to mobilize the family to support child placements.
Kinship Caregiver Forums
The Kinship Caregiver Forums provide the guidelines for presentation of nine kinship caregiver forums that provide participants the opportunity to discuss issues of concern, exchange ideas, and develop supportive networks. The introduction provides the presenter with an overview of kinship care and an orientation to the presentation of materials. Each forum provides instructions for the presentation of the session as well as participant handouts. The individual forums include:
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Family Traditions - We're In This Together
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Honoring Kinship Care and Caregivers
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The Emotional and Special Needs of Children
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Community Resources and Wraparound Services
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Family Boundaries
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Divided Loyalties
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Family Continuity and Permanency
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Legal Aspects of Kinship Care
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Taking Care of Our Own - Adopting a Relative's Child
