Kinship Care Training Institute

Ensuring Safety, Well-being, and Permanency for Children in Kinship Care - The Critical Role of Public Agency Line Staff and their Supervisors

Twenty years ago, CWLA advanced the term "kinship care" and called for specific policy, program, and practice reforms. The continued increase of kinship families coming into the child welfare system presents ongoing compelling challenges that have serious implications for how line staff work with kinship families to address legal and financial challenges; child development, especially delays; child behavior and trauma; and extended family relationships. Accessing mental health, school, and other resources so kinship families can be safely transitioned from agency supervision to community supports requires creative collaboration. This Institute demonstrates a competency-based model that agency staff can implement, taking into account practice challenges such as working with immigrant kinship families, addressing worker biases about kinship families, and the specific role of supervisors in helping their staff achieve ASFA outcomes. This Institute is directed primarily toward public agency issues, however, private agency participation is also warmly welcomed.

Presenters: Eileen Mayers Pasztor, DSW, Professor, School of Social Work, California State University, Long Beach, CA and CWLA Consultant/Trainer; Donna D. Petras, PhD,MSW, Director, Training and Models of Practice, CWLA, Washington, DC; and TBA apublic agency worker/ supervisor and a kinship caregiver.