Kinship caregivers are often approached by the system in a time of crisis. Typically, that’s when a child is removed from an unsafe home or even in the hospital due to abuse/neglect.?(Getty Images)
At the second gubernatorial debate in October 2023, the governor acknowledged the plight of kinship. Later he said, “We must do everything we can to ensure their needs are met.”
Kinship care is when a child is living with relatives or close family friends other than their parents. These children may be victims of abuse and neglect and/or formally in the child welfare system; while many for a myriad of reasons are informally left with relatives or friends.
There are things we do well in Kentucky around kinship care and there are things that need improvement. For the past five years, we’ve needed improvement regarding the initial placement process. This is when a caregiver is given paperwork from the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) which captures specific custody details around placement with them.
When placement is offered, it’s an emotional time for a caregiver.? They are in shock as they hear details about the circumstances of the child’s removal from their home such as abuse, neglect and sometimes even dealing with the child’s required hospitalization.
At the initial placement conversation, there’s a multitude of things to consider such as researching many services; learning about the family court system and DCBS requirements; determining the emotional and physical needs of the child. A caregiver might not be thinking clearly and there are many unknowns. The initial wrong decision can affect longer term services for the child.
This year, we found an answer to improving the initial placement process. It is Senate Bill 151. Though it should have been simple and was unanimously approved and signed into law. It has a history to sort out in regards to implementation. At the center of the issues, there’s a Feb. 8 estimate created by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) that reflects the need for $20 million in additional general funds to implement. There’s also a referenced Kentucky Supreme Court ruling that basically states that if there isn’t funding, there doesn’t have to be implementation.
The bill was amended with stricter parameters and was presented on Feb. 29 ?to the House Families and Children’s committee.? There were no objections or concerns raised at the meeting and the bill unanimously moved forward until signed by the Gov. Andy Beshear on April 5.
It’s my opinion that the amended bill reduces costs (from the Feb. 8 CHFS estimate) by limiting placement time option to 120 days and through other potential administrative regulation changes. It’s even better cost wise, if we get federal funding.
At the?IJC Children and Families meeting on July 30, the CHFS secretary shared that they would be happy to ask for federal funding. The $20 million estimate that holds SB-151 hostage from implementation did not include federal funds. Kentucky gets approximately 72 cents of every dollar of applicable federal funds.
As legislators continue to pursue the issues, we wait until the next committee meeting in late-August. As a kinship advocate who understands the seriousness of needed changes like SB-151 for vulnerable families; it feels like a series of games of “Whack-A-Mole,” where each event leads to another meeting with something new, but without tangible results. I’m most concerned about families becoming ineligible for longer term services because we are waiting for resolution. I also feel we can do more around better communication of the services in the interim.
We need a private working meeting with CHFS, some legislators, key experts/stakeholders, where we’d assess potential funding sources; review the amended bill and revise regulation changes all focused on one goal — creating a definitive plan to do the work expeditiously. We shouldn’t leave the room until we have an agreed upon plan. I’d volunteer my time and gather state and national child welfare experts who would give their time.
The governor was right when he said we should be doing everything we can to ensure that their (kinship) needs are met. We need his intervention to keep the promise to kinship families.
We can’t change the past, but we can change today and the future.
]]>Kinship caregivers are often approached by the system in a time of crisis. Typically, that’s when a child is removed from an unsafe home or even in the hospital due to abuse/neglect.?(Getty Images)
I am shocked and saddened as I reflect upon recent events regarding Senate Bill 151 for kinship caregivers. There are many questions, beginning with, how is nothing better than something for children, when we know we can do better????
?The story requires some background; I begin with the term “kinship care.” It’s when a child is living with relatives or close friends other than parents. The kids may be victims of abuse and neglect and/or formally in the child welfare system with involvement of the Department of Community Based Services (DCBS) or informally placed with relatives/friends.??
In 2019, kinship advocates were elated as Kentucky offered formal kinship caregivers a relative foster care option. It provided a second primary option of custody at initial placement in the child welfare system while the family courts pursued reunification with the parents or permanency elsewhere.
The first option is temporary custody which provides fewer financial resources and less oversight; the second option of relative foster care offers more resources with more oversight.? The decision is annotated on a DCBS form at placement.
For five years, caregivers shared frustration and concerns over how these options have been offered. Legislators wondered why caregivers weren’t selecting relative foster care. In fact, more than half of Kentucky children in the system were in temporary custody rather than relative foster care which indicated a problem.????
When people aren’t thinking clearly, they shouldn’t be making rushed critical decisions that can wait. Kinship caregivers are often approached by the system in a time of crisis. Typically, that’s when a child is removed from an unsafe home or even in the hospital due to abuse/neglect.? Under duress, decisions with long term implications are made without knowing what the future will look like or what’s needed. Yet, regardless of the circumstances, once the placement form is signed, it’s permanent.?
During the 2024 legislative session, Sen. Julie Raque Adams sponsored SB 151. The bill allowed caregiver flexibility up to 120 days for that critical decision and in some cases, the potential ability to change options after the 120 days. This bill also requires a social worker to ask a child whom they’d like to be placed with at removal; it gives that child a voice.?
On Feb. 6 at a Senate Families and Children Committee meeting , Sen. Raque Adams referenced a fiscal note stating no additional costs to implement the bill.??
The bill was unanimously approved in both Kentucky House and Senate committee meetings and on the House and Senate floors and later signed by Gov. Andy Beshear on April 5.??
‘Flabbergasted:’ Help for kinship care families passed unanimously. $20M price tag could derail it.
I assumed SB 151 would soon become reality. It’s a bad assumption. On June 19 at the Interim Joint Committee on Families and Children, Sen. Raque Adams asked DCBS for the status of SB 151 implementation. The discussion led to the discovery of no implementation due to the need for $20 million; basically, it’s no money, no action.?
We’re now hearing of letters and events that have happened over the last few months, including a letter from the governor dated five days after he signed the bill that says “the omission of an appropriation is the same as elimination.”?
Thankfully, all of this will be discussed at a July 30 committee meeting and get to an acceptable resolution for the families in need.
I’m a grandma, kinship advocate and citizen. I believe in good faith efforts. To me, good faith is more than one email or letter; it’s phone calls, meetings, talking and more talking. Good faith should be authentic outreach in all possible ways.??
If the governor, legislature and DCBS all believe the bill should be done, how can this be an all or nothing action/decision? Where are all the potential options, knowing there are issues in the current policies/system??
This bill helps children in the child welfare system and fixes known problems. Does it really cost $20 million to ask a child whom they’d like to be placed with before we determine placement?? Have we earnestly looked at the 120-day policy change and found all implementation options would cost $20 million? Many kinship kids in the system are innocent victims of the opioid epidemic; why wouldn’t we consider opioid settlement dollars as a solution to needed funding?? Are we doing all we can today or taking the easy path to nothing??
]]>Citizen Foster Care Review Boards?are hosting virtual town halls around Kentucky this month. (Getty Images)
As we approach a new year, let’s not forget kids in kinship care. Kinship care is when a child is living with relatives or close family friends other than their parents. These children may be victims of abuse and neglect and/or formally in the child welfare system, while many for myriad reasons are informally left with relatives or friends.
For Kentucky, there are approximately 55,000 kids in a kinship care setting. They’re caregivers who, at a moment’s notice, step up to keep kids out of foster care and some of whose savings become depleted while doing so.?
It’s sad that while many of us prepare for large family dinners and multiple gifts over the holidays, there are some grandchildren living with grandparents struggling with food insecurity. Their stories are a harsh reality as they persevere to rise above their struggles.???
What if we took action?? Let’s look at five things we can do today and through 2024.
As for the other four things, by working this list between now and through 2024, our Kentucky leaders can lessen the financial struggles for kinship families who are actively in the child welfare system.
Fred Rogers once said, “All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world.”? In Kentucky, our kinship kids rely on us and need help. Kentucky relies on kin to step up, so let’s make sure we do our part for those who are valuable to us – our children.? Let’s all be a good neighbor and leader to do what we can.
]]>Citizen Foster Care Review Boards?are hosting virtual town halls around Kentucky this month. (Getty Images)
I recently spoke to a legislative committee about Kinship Care. As I sat at the table during the hearing, my heart was hurting for so many kinship families in Kentucky who are in serious need and seem to be forgotten. There are many kids in Kinship Care who’ve been abused, neglected and removed from their homes and placed with family or close family friends other than their parents.?
On a moment’s notice, grandparents and others find themselves in a predicament because, while the kids are placed with family, they’re also penalized with fewer resources because they are with family. Oftentimes, kinship caregivers drain their savings; potentially having to rely on the system later.??
?There is an old phrase, “Rob Peter to pay Paul.” That’s what we’re doing. There are so many gaps in the system that affect caregivers who are trying to keep traumatized kids out of foster care; trying to feed, clothe and house kids long term, and avoid poverty that threatens to put them on the streets.?
Studies show that children do better by being placed with someone they know and trust but sadly, the investments towards these kids are still lacking.
Nationwide, there are over 2.5 million children in Kinship Care and 25% of them are living with grandparents that struggle with food insecurity. Here in Kentucky, there are approximately 58,000 kids living with grandparents.
So what needs to happen?? We need legislative champions to step up to lead a study on kinship needs today and work towards better options.?
We need the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) to work with that task force and solve this problem; let’s look at what’s already available at both state and federal levels; determine additional needs and get to solutions. Then collectively in a bipartisan, practical and compassionate way, fight for it.???
Let’s stop watching thousands of kinship caregivers annually drain what they have and the cycle continue. Let’s not allow these struggles to continue just because it’s complicated, confusing and might cost money. Ignoring problems doesn’t make them go away.
My kinship “needs list” that was reviewed at the committee hearing was realistic but probably too long for some. I think the initial reaction was that there’s no room in a budget that has many claims on it. However, the needs are still there, the children and issues still important. Let’s do more than dismiss it as too costly without working to get to the facts and see what we can do.??
Most of us know someone who’s raising kids in Kinship Care. They’re? everywhere. The opioid epidemic has claimed too many victims and continues to do so daily. I believe that the opioid situation is why we are in the top 10 states for child abuse and neglect and also for the number of children being raised by grandparents.?
Who is going to be the leader to change that trend? To be the leader in innovation and changing needed policies?? To help others understand that Kinship Care isn’t about free handouts, but appropriate assistance and services to many who are stepping into the gap for those who have lost everything and suffered more than they should?? Who is going to be the leader to roll up their sleeves and see that we do the right thing???
For Kinship Care, we need to relook how we spend our dollars and focus on data driven realistic improvements.? We shouldn’t allow so many families to quietly struggle and say it’s good enough.?
Let’s consider endowment funds and/or leveraging the opioid settlement funds. The kinship families are certainly victims of the opioid epidemic. We can be doing more.
We need more conversation and action.? It’s only getting harder as the economy changes; it simply costs more to raise children. The system is not working like it should and someone has to be the champion and lead the way to getting it right.??
Who is the champion? Our legislators have the power to help solve this problem. There are thousands of kinship families in Kentucky that are still waiting in the gap for a champion.?
]]>Grandparents are caring for 58,000 children in Kentucky, often because of prior neglect or abuse. (Getty Images)
Robert F. Kennedy said, “The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.” For the children of Kentucky, we certainly have our work cut out for us.
For several?years, Kentucky was No. 1 ?in child abuse and neglect. Right now, we’re ranked No. 5. 1 ?We place many of these children with relatives or with close family friends in what is known as “kinship care.”
The kinship care relatives aren’t the biological?parents but are grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, even older siblings.?In Kentucky, there are approximately 59,000 children raised in kinship care. Of those 59,000 children,?58,000 kids are being raised by their grandparents.
What’s troubling is when these children are placed with kinship caregivers and into the child welfare system, there’s just not enough supports for them. While we are slowly getting better,nwe just aren’t where we should be.
It’s important to note that many kinship caregivers have?worked all their lives and contributed to society. I’ve had communications with thousands?across Kentucky who are struggling as they take these kids in and do their best with very little.
Some are in their 40s and 50s and oftentimes lose their jobs because they take in babies born addicted to drugs; some lose their jobs because traumatized kids require so much therapy and treatments that they just can’t work; some are in their 60s and 70s living on Social Security or disability. Many are taking more than one child. For example, sibling groups of three to five children.
Over time, they’re draining savings accounts, losing their cars and homes all in the goal of keeping these kids out of foster care.
One of the resources that Kentucky legislators and the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) have pointed relative-kinship caregivers towards is the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (KTAP). KTAP is temporary financial assistance for those who are at 40% and below the federal poverty level (FPL). For example, that’s a family of four with a gross income of about $1,096 a month.
There are many things about KTAP that should be changed at both the state and federal level, but right now our Kentucky legislators have a big opportunity to help families as DCBS has proposed an increase in the amount allocation. According to DCBS during an administrative hearing on Dec. 13, these federal funds are already available and do not affect the Kentucky state budget.
When I first became aware of the proposed KTAP increase, I was shocked to learn that the monthly amount that families receive hasn’t been increased since December 1995. There’s been no consideration to inflation or cost of living whatsoever.
From 1995 till now, this program, for?example, has provided someone with four children only $328 a month. Now, DCBS wants to?increase that to $656 a month, which in a period of 27 years is seriously overdue, especially with
the levels of inflation today.
In good conscience, I have to ask: How is it acceptable to keep benefits for these low-income families — those struggling to keep traumatized and abused children out of foster care — at the same level for 27 years? How is that okay?
At the Dec. 13 hearing, former Rep. Mary Lou Marzian shared that the legislature voted its members a cost of living raise; Marzian ?shared that it’s also important for ?lawmakers to take care of our vulnerable kids and these families.
So many of us have received some type of?cost of living increase over the years, but our low-income families have been forgotten. It’s time?to do the right thing.
I know many of our legislators, and they work hard on behalf of the kids of Kentucky. In fact, many are champions for our children. We need them all to step up and address this oversight right away – an oversight that is almost three decades old.
The KTAP funds are there and for this purpose. Legislators need to approve the proposed KTAP regulations to help our Kentucky families now.
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