Kinship Care The Ties that Bind Mutually Inclusive

kinship care it's when child is placed with relative so you have relative caregiver caring for kin or what we call fictive Kin which may be someone that has tie to their Community or their roots that may not be blood relative it doesn't just have to be niece or nephew or cousin it can be my best friend's child it can be somebody in my congregation's cousin that know and see every Sunday and they're in need of caregiving and I'm going to provide that care is more like grew relationship with his family outside of so yeah that's more like kinship with him like being able to be around family his family in black and brown communities specifically kidship care Is Not New Concept it's something that has existed even informally for years it's something that we've always done in our cult in our community we don't believe that like children are orphans or they're parentless we believe that as community you step in myself and am kinship care provider my daughter is actually my cousin and as family we step in and we take care of our own we we take care of our family because we want them raised in the culture we want them with that sense of community sense of belonging and self-identity and far too many times too many instances we have black and brown children that are uprooted from their respective communities they are detached from the schools the churches you know the the ecosystem that they're used to and they're placed in environments where they may not have connection to this new rule allows the kids to stay situated within their communities with family or family like settings and also provide the the structure and the funds needed for those kids to get the care that they need he still go see his auntie here and there hang out with his cousins talk to his dad on regular base it might start as foster care but it quickly turns into kinship because feel like want to know the mom want to know the dad want to like build relationship with their family you know like said we don't we're not replacing anybody we're just an extra love there is not child or not many if that that wouldn't want connection to their community over going to an unknown home families come in all shapes and sizes and Michigan's taking steps to ensure they stay together there's something called kinship care while the concept isn't new our state is becoming one of the leaders in the greater national movement to ensure children and the child welfare system have the supports they need to thrive today we talk with people on the inside about what exactly kinship care is and more importantly how it's set to impact Michigan families every year thousands of children are uprooted and placed in foster care while it's challenging to know the exact number the latest National Data estimates 369,000 youth sit in America's child welfare system in traditional foster care methods children and teens have often been placed in homes they have no connection to and shortages of foster families mean kids may have to move into new communities away from their schools friends and familiar spaces with everything believe in my heart and soul like that's one of the things that I'll get Terry about in this work is just that every child deserves an opportunity to be as close to their Roots as they possibly can and if they can do that their chance for success is so much higher they call them ases the adverse childhood experiences that child fights every time we can can feed into the good of that maintaining those connections are vital piece of that how can we create less trauma for that child if they can stay in their school that's one space we didn't remove and that's one space they go 5 days week brookin pran is the community engagement and supports manager for da blet St John's West Michigan Staple in child welfare which offers supports in areas like foster care adoption in and independent living her team is one of many in Michigan who are advocating for an alternative model when it comes to child placement kinship care it's when child is placed with relative so you have relative caregiver caring for kin or what we call fictive Kin which may be someone that has tie to their Community or their roots that may not be blood relative so they can care for that child as we help the family with reunification as the ultimate goal the conep centers on the importance of consistency identity and stability in kids' lives and while it's not new it has gained significant traction Across the Nation in 2024 Michigan became the first US state to implement separate licensing standards for kin caregivers opening new array of resources to people caring for their loved ones we reached out to Michigan's Department of Health and Human Services to find out more so the federal health and human servic finalized new regulation earlier this year that allows child welfare agency to adopt simpler licensing or approval standards for all kin foster homes as well as requiring that states provide caregivers with the same level of financial assistance that any other foster care provider receives so basically in the past foster care was format where there was licensed foster parent that would take in the child whether that person had connection Through Blood to that child or not and we were able to of course provide financial assistance now there's an easier or clearer path for again Aunts Uncles grandparents cousins nieces to step up and formally be that kinship care provider and also get them get the funds needed to ensure the safety and well-being and care for that child Demetrius Starling is the senior deputy director for Michigan's Children's Services Administration he says kinship care is becoming the standard when engaging with children and families in the state so we have chin families who are licensed right so 65% of our kids who are placed in in foster care are with kin families and when we talk about those impacts of being able to stay in community that you are familiar in when it comes to kinship care what are some of those specific benefits to that child or the children who get to stay with family during what can be really difficult time we understand that kinship care is best for children and families and that placing children with kin allows for that maintained family connection that cultural continuity familiarity with their systems comfort and also reduce trauma so outside of the safety assessments providing financial support and increased placement efforts with family we also know that it helps with the healing process it helps with the reconciliation process from child or children being ripped away from their homes you know when we have like-minded community kind of effort when we have boots on the ground we have people that are best situated to you know to not only ensure the diversity and Equity is there when it comes to kinship care placements but also all of our kinship care givers can again have that ecosystem where they can talk about what's needed to best support the children their children from their family we believe that these kids can grow and again you know reconcile some of that trauma at much higher and quicker rate well spent portion of my own childhood in kinship care so for me have that perspective was part of informal is what it would have been considered was raised in the South and came and lived with an aunt and uncle in rural Michigan in the end now have my beautiful aunt my uncle has passed have my beautiful mother my father has passed but have both of these people in my life and have my sister who is my everything but have my cousins who are my everything and identify with them as my siblings to organically look and looking back at research that keeping Comm families together keeping communities together if you can do that in smaller systems that the success rates can be higher and and that has been proven for the kids that are able to maintain those roots and connections versus going into foster care placement the success rates can just be higher for those children their sense of identity the pieces of that to know their roots to be part of their own cultural heritage those parts are just huge components to who we are as people and who we grow up as but to be able to have that stability and the biggest piece of knowing your family is working with you on that is it the unknowns it just eliminates one more unknown for that child just hope if can support another family the way love and adore mine that think even more could done in one West Michigan home we see this concept in action we got big family there's us two and then we have seven kids so we have the oldest is Hanna then we got Junior Kendell Jr Kier Thomas Braden and Kennedy and Jolie have three biologically he has two biologically we we've adopted two together over the years Kier was four years ago and then Jolene was like couple weeks ago Jessica and Kendale McBride have always had heart for kids and together they've made home for them too it started with their son Kier who was placed with them and later adopted through kinship care Kier was going through foster care through my grandmother which she didn't want to do longterm well she didn't want to adopt she she kept him she like want to do adoption and him and my son Kendell Jr were like best friends at the time so they came come to me like hey we have Kyer want to get him adopted do you want I'm like that's great idea cuz I've always wanted to take in kids so it actually helped me into what we're doing now so but yeah he moved in with me it was 9 or 10 so had remember grew relationship with his family outside of so yeah that's was more like kinship with him like being able to be around family his family that he he's used to being with like he's still going to see his auntie here and there hang out with his cousins talk to his dad on regular base with Kier there was built-in connection that kinship care can offer but the McBride say they've tried to mirror this method in every experience with Children and Families they've had the opportunity to connect with it might start as foster care but it quickly turns into kinship because want to like build relationship with their family because want to know like how they were raised and you know like their background because we of course want to implement some of that into our life too we're not trying to take away from you know their normal everyday life like with Jolene who we just adopted you know like was really close with like some of her family we still keep in contact just because think that's so important it's always safe for the parents to know like their kid is safe yeah it's hard for your you know you lost your kid already and then to know that they're with someone you know that's taking care of them actually taking care of so that's like the thing with us reaching out talk talk to the parents you know so they learned that you know okay my child is safe over there so it's always mean you know like leaving Pars in the dust even if they they're not going back home they still want to know their child is safe where they're at you know we're not trying to take anybody's family from them you know we're just here to support love give them good home but also protect them and let them still have relationship with their family if it's you know safe it's going to combat one of those Aces that have happened and to be able to work with child to know their story to tell their story to honor it to be able to see piece of it but sense smells the familiarities of your community the things when you're used to driving to school and back and what doesn't look the same what can you do to put it back in so that you can make that transition little easier and connect with child and maintain the roots all at the same time I'm always like could you just make sure to ask kiddo like what are the meals that are their favorites or they remember as are possibly even having to learn new foods CER this guy 16 years old love sprinkles on his ice cream so she buys him sprinkles his own container container spr container sprinkles so he can having his ice cream all the time like but you know that's something that they're familiar with like consisteny is Big when it comes to like taking in another kid or bringing kid in your home because they're not used to consistency and lot of them they break from that that brings lot of trauma because you don't know what their backgrounds come from so when you got consisteny it works perfect with like your and it mean you can see them smiling you see the happiness when they're able to re rely on you but with all the research data and personal experience like the mcbrides backing the benefits of kinship care our team can't help but ask the question why hasn't this been the go-to model from the start as opposed to traditional foster care methods where children are often placed with strangers think we were just talking earlier where it's like it makes the most sense like to start with families but that's not what we've historically done why why do you think that is you know I'm I'm not quite sure how it couldn't have ever been in certain communities that is the plan and you you keep your families together think we've all learned from mistakes that have been made along the way especi you know in the work of child welfare and other fields as well it's important to note that for many communities of color kinship care is and has been the norm when it comes to children who are displeased but this hasn't always been represented when we look at state and federal data as it relates to the foster care system with many taking in children informally which doesn't offer the credit or resources that traditional foster care does in black and brown communities specifically kidship care Is Not New Concept it's something that has existed even informally for years can even recall you know in my neighborhood that there were families that were impacted by different issues and concerns where there was family member parent or caregiver that couldn't take care of their child so they had other folks where they' be fictive kin or actual blood blood can that would step up culturally we have been doing kinship care forever right it's something that we've always done we don't believe that like children are orphans or they're parentless we believe that as community you step in we all take responsibility in raising our children and that's something that we've done forever and something we continue to do they're never without parental figures they're never without caregivers and the best way that we can do that is stepping in and caring for them sitting on virtual call is stormy Jacobs wake up the program manager at Michigan State University's kinship Care Resource Center she identifies as anishnabe from The Little River Band of Odawa Indians and is kinship caregiver herself my daughter is actually my cousin as family we've we step in and we take care of our own we we take care of our family because we want them raised in the culture we want them with that sense of community sense of belonging and self-identity when looking at the history of the United States child welfare services there's long-standing disparity when examining which groups are more likely to have their families separated and for some these factors can play role in whether or not caregivers want to formally register through the system get it right like go out to the Kinship Caregivers see them know what they're going through know that they have to navigate system that is challenging their relationship at all costs right kinship care provider can say to to worker like hey want XYZ to happen but then feel like can't ask for XYZ because what if they just take this kid away if you are foster parent or kinship caregiver of color you are amazing you are dipping your toes into system that was not built for you and you're protecting your family and your community and applaud that think that's the best thing that we can do because we see the disparities we see what it is like for the child welfare system nobody could argue that in the past if you look statistically there was more black and brown children that were brought into care than any other race so the pieces of that and looking at how did that affect communities as whole how does that affect how communities as whole want to take on or receive services and what work do we have to do to undo some of the past that's been done and the biggest piece number one is recognizing it and not making excuses for that historically children of color have been disproportionately represented in the child welfare system and black and Native American families have long sat at the heart of this issue there's myriad of factors many of which lay at the root of systemic discrimination when family has lack of access to concrete or economic supports or if there is lack of stable housing food insecurity you know the housing instability that we see and disenfranchised communities sometimes our families are dismantled child welfare studies show the breaking up of whack families in America can be traced back to the earliest days of slavery and today African-American families are more likely to be investigated by Child Protective Services when compared to other their families the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services found from January 2008 to June of 2017 black children were placed in foster care at higher rates than white children even when both shared identical risk of future maltreatment in the home for Native communities the trauma of government intervention in families goes back Generations can you talk with me just little bit about the history there between indigenous people and the child protective system here in the US so for decades even probably like century native children have been removed from their homes with no reasoning or false reasoning or flat out lies we talk about the boarding school and children were forced to go to the boarding school because those were Federal funded programs and so the more children they had in there the more funding they got and so it kind of flourished and it was business at this point investigations by the US Department of the Interior say Native American boarding schools held the prime primary goal of cultural genocide removing and reprogramming children by destroying native ways of life and so children were removed from their homes from their reservation from their families their communities and the goal in that was for assimilation was for them to no longer be Native American no longer have that identity that sense of culture that sense of belonging but for them to just be humans them just to be American so in order to strip all of that identity what they did was they used all form of abuse physical emotional sexual mental abuse as well as relocating them to different areas so now they've completely pulled them from their environment and now they're experiencing large amounts of abuse on daily basis from cultural standpoint from our childbearing practices we've never believed in any form of abuse for our children so then for them to go from one extreme to the opposite was detrimental and it's been Generations of working that out of our Bloodlines they were still being taken in the 60s without cause and forced into these assimilation camps essentially the boarding schools that's my grandparents age that's my parents generation today the Indian Child Welfare act also known as IA aims to protect Indian children and support stability and security of tribes and families recognizing that tribes have Sovereign rights and legal Powers with respect to their children law and policy is just starting to maybe pick up that right starting to see that we need to do something not just the tribes handling it themselves but we need to also help and support them the best we can and equa didn't come nicely EO was hard fought for and it's still hard fought for it's up on the Supreme Court shopping block every chance it gets so the work that we're doing is great but we have to remember that it's continuous and kinship is part of that kinship care is built into IA because it's built into our culture and what we believe in our childbearing practices when asked if native communities in Michigan would benefit from the updated kinship Care Resources stormmy says yes but the change may not find impact with everyone the new licensing requirements that came through tribal member families if they fall into that category then they for sure can reach out to those services and resources kinship has always been protected under IA so we've had lot of those safety nets already lot of our tribal communities are licensed through their tribe but if they choose to go in into different route and enter into kidp caregiving through foster care setting then they do have those same resources available to them overall State leaders say changes to Michigan's system will make becoming licensed can ship caregiver easier but in order to reap the financial resources families of all backgrounds do have to formally register with the state and for many that's still tough decision oftentimes it's greatly in the benefit of the family to go through the licensing process and the subsidies that are available to child if they're in formal care and those pieces of that for families who may come from communities who have been mistreated you know by the system before who say I'm already doing this like already have my nephew living with me and we're you know doing just fine and don't want to risk anything by kind of going through that process what what would you say to folks who might be feeling that way think the first thing would always say is rightfully so like sit in that space for minute and acknowledge that like rightfully so and could understand that and to educate them in way that they can understand that what parts of system change could enrich their lives now for grandparent that adopted their grandchild or took guardianship you may not be able to go back and receive those subsidies now and that is an unfortunate space that there isn't lot of control that we have in that as system but what is available here at DBL at St John's we have virtual support group on on Facebook that they can join that is solely for caregivers there's no workers aside from our team who are also Kinship Caregivers themselves they can seek support find resources ask questions sometimes they qualify for things they had no clue so it takes space where they're welcomed in to be able to go okay guard down little let's see what we can do for your family there's also the kinship Care Resource Center out of Michigan State University you can ask questions whether you're formal or informal as caregiver so if you don't feel like you have that that trust or you can reach out to who you're already working with reach out to us at the MSU kcrc because we can we can help we can be listening ear we can help provide resources even explain some of the systems that you're dealing with if you're not familiar with them welcome any champions in that work because we need it there is not child or not many if that that wouldn't want connection to their community over going to an unknown home that's what drives me in this work because want the system to be better for everybody it's going to get better because we're going to make it better thanks for watching you can find this episode and others online at wvu.mix