Agency helps provide Family KINnections for foster kids
A program that aims to keep foster children with caregivers is spreading its help and support for Oklahoma County caregivers and parents.
In NorthCare’s Family KINnections program, kinship caregivers provide care to children who have been taken into the state's custody. These caregivers must have had a previous relationship with a child to be eligible; through marriage, blood or informal relationships such as a teacher or family friend.
The program provides home-based care coordination services to kinship foster families in Oklahoma County with formal Child Welfare involvement.
“The goals of the program are to increase the stability and permanency of kinship foster care placements and to ensure kinship caregiver families are well supported,” Arnall Family Foundation program officer Lindsay Laird said.
Home Studies & Family KINnections project manager Melissa Morgan said working together with different agencies is a crucial element to develop support for those in need.
“NorthCare works as a collaborative agency; we enjoy networking, partnering, and engaging with all community agencies in order to provide the best support and care for the
families we serve,” Morgan said.
“Family KINnections is here to support this population of caregivers because they face different challenges and barriers compared to traditional or adoptive homes,” Morgan said.
“Kinship caregivers go through the same application as traditional or adoptive homes. They also go through the training and approval process as the other two populations of caregivers, however; they do so while children are already placed in their homes.”
The programs primary focus is on kinship caregivers, which is why seeking individualized help and support is at the top of their to-do list.
“They not only begin caring for children who require love and support due to the circumstances that lead to them being in custody, but they also have to navigate the approval process with OKDHS (Oklahoma Department of Human Services) at the same time,” Morgan said.
NorthCare receives a referral from DHS to provide services for a kinship family; this is how the program is partnered with caregivers, Morgan said. A Community Resource Specialist provides the Family KINnections services free of charge and in the home of the caregiver; the family is not required to come into an office setting, she said.
‘Placement stability’
Family KINnections is funded by the Arnall Family Foundation, which exists to empower community partners through high-impact programs that improve lives of disadvantaged youth. “The Arnall Family Foundation is proud to support Family KINnections,” Laird said. “Knowing that kinship providers have unique needs, we believe this program is wellequipped to meet those needs and ultimately have better outcomes for children in their care.”
The foundation was founded by former Continental Resources executive Sue Ann Arnall in 2015.
Family KINnections is different from regular foster care systems because the focus is set on kinship caregivers. “A Community Resource Specialist provides the Family KINnections services free of charge and in the home of the caregiver; the family is not required to come into an office setting,” Morgan said.
The support, advocacy, case management and education that Family KINnections can offer is provided to everyone who lives in the home; caregivers, children placed, biological children of caregivers, etc. Because the program knows that the adjustment of placement affects everyone, Morgan said.
From 2012-2015, Family KINnections has served 323 families and will continue to help many more in the future. Qualitative and quantitative studies were completed with the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center to determine the outcomes of the different types of services provided from the kinship program.
“One of the outcomes found was that families who had Family KINnections in their home, the placement was six times more likely to sustain than compared to services as usual. Of all the goals of the program, this is one of the most important ones; placement stability,” Morgan said.
The program continues to thrive and grow, she said, so it can help those in need all over Oklahoma. Morgan said she hopes that through the program families are strengthened and prepared to care for the children in their care as long as necessary.