Assessing Kin Caregiver Needs to Provide Responsive Services and Support  

Assessing the needs of kinship/grandfamilies is critical to providing relevant services, capitalizing on their strengths, and helping them overcome their challenges. Explore kinship assessments through several vantage points.  

• Explore how Washington State’s kinship navigator program is assessing and responding to kin caregiver needs and how Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe’s Children & Family Services has adapted the tool to align with their Kinship Parenting Program’s values, culture, and practices. 

• Learn about the Kinship Caregiver Assessment in the nationally recommended Kin-Specific Foster Home Approval Standards, which considers the ability of a kin caregiver to care for all the physical, emotional, medical, and educational needs of the child and meets the federal criteria for title IV-E agencies’ assessment of kin caregivers. See how the Assessment was developed based in part on interviews with 24 title IV-E agencies in states, territories, and tribes, and through a co-design process with key stakeholders.  

• Hear from a panel of kin caregivers on what they recommend as the best approaches to assessing their needs. 

Following the webinar, we will host a half-hour Q&A session with the presenters. Participants will receive a separate Zoom link during the webinar to join that session.  

Presenters:  

Rosalyn Alber, Kinship and Lifespan Respite Program Manager, Home & Community Services, Aging & Long-Term Support Administration, Washington State Department of Social and Health Services 

Madeleine Chone, Bloom Works 

Hannah Herrington, Senior Product and Delivery Manager, Bloom Works 

Cheryl A. Miller M.L.S., Director, Children & Family Services, Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe 

Other presenters will be announced soon.