May 14, 2025
One of the greatest challenges for kinship families is that they often lack full legal rights and responsibilities for the children in their care. Legal services can be costly, inaccessible, and unknown by kin caregivers. Without legal assistance and guidance, many kin caregivers cannot access the services and supports they need to meet a child’s basic needs.
Fortunately, there are a number of legal models that are being used successfully by organizations around the country to provide critical legal services to kinship/grandfamilies. The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network’s Subject Matter Experts from the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law helped identify legal models and strategies that are being used to successfully help kinship families across the country. They shared what they learned and were joined by several organizations that are helping these families overcome their challenges with accessing legal services and obtaining guardianship, power of attorney, or other legal relationships to children in their care.
Learn replicable ideas and strategies to provide supportive legal assistance to kinship families in your community through legal education and resources, brief legal services, and legal representation.
In the first webinar of the series, Dory Thrasher, Senior SNAP Policy Analyst at FRAC, will discuss key topics related to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and grandfamilies and kinship families.
Explore how traumatic life experiences can present in children, from newborns through teens, and participate in an interactive discussion on supportive strategies.
As social service agencies and policy makers grapple with increasing demands for grandfamily and kinship housing, this webinar features two organizations that are providing much-needed housing for grandfamilies.
