The Natural Fit: Kinship Care and Family Group Decision Making: A Second Chance, Inc.

1. The Natural Fit:Kinship Care and Family Group Decision Making: A Second Chance, Inc. A New Approach to Servicing Families

2. Agenda • Introduction to the practice of kinship care specific to A Second Chance Inc. • An Overview of how kinship care lends itself to better outcomes for children and families – safety, permanency & well-being. • The Natural Fit of Kinship Care and Family Group Decision Making: When and how to introduce and incorporate Family Group Decision Making into work with kinship families. •  A closer look at how FGDM is incorporated into case planning from the onset of the case. • A look at various effective outreach approaches to be utilized with families. • Collaboration with the county and service providers • Hands on approaches with how to effectively engage with the county will be discussed.

3. What does Kinship Care mean to you?

4. A Second Chance, Inc.Two Decades of Commitment to Kinship Care • ASCI began as a vision of President and CEO Dr. Sharon McDaniel while serving in another professional capacity. It was there that she saw firsthand the disparity between the large number of African-American children requiring out-of-home placement care, with the availability of African-American families providing such care. • Currently servicing Allegheny, Philadelphia, Delaware and Berks Counties. • ASCI provides Kinship Foster Care, Emergency Kinship Placement Services, SWAN, FGDM, and Family Finding.

5. Kinship Care is a Practice • The number of children being raised by kin over the last ten years increased by 18%.* • At least 1 in 11 children will spend some amount of time in kinship care before the age of 18. For African American children the is true for 1 in 5 children. • Kinship care is a practice embedded in the child welfare system. *Annie E. Casey Foundation: Stepping Up for Kids: What Government and Communities Should Do to Support Kinship Families,

6. Kinship as a Catalyst for Safety • Safety: • There is lesser likelihood that children will experience another occurrence of abuse or neglect when placed in kinship care compared to children placed in non-relative care.* • Some studies indicate that children in non-relative care are 10 times more likely to have a new allegation of abuse or neglect.** • *Center for Law and Social Policy: Is Kinship Care Good for Kids? Conway and Hutson, 2007 • ** Families in Society: A Matched Comparison of Children in Kinship Care & Foster Care on Child Welfare Outcomes, Winokur & Crawford

7. Kinship as a Catalyst for Stability & Permanency • Children placed in kinship care experience fewer placements. • Children placed in kinship care are less likely to experience school movements – 63% of children in kinship care compared to 80% of children in non-relative care. • Research indicates that children who reunify with birth parents following kinship care placements are less likely to experience a re-entry into care than children placed with non-relatives. * Center for Law and Social Policy: Is Kinship Care Good for Kids? Conway and Hutson, 2007

8. Challenges of Kinship Care

9. FGDM Influences

10. A Second Chance, Inc.’s FGDMHistory & Successes • 40% Reunification occurred with biological parents or family Almost half of our successful plans resulted in the reunification of the children to their parents and/or family members. Families came together to offer supports and assist in the process of reunification. • 21% Kinship resource established About ¼ of our successes resulted in identifying other family for youth and/or parents. Family members were identified to provide supports, foster care or a permanent placement after discharge of a child from a facility. • 32% Placements prevented and family supports were established More than ¼ of our successes for the year were due to families creating a family support team to prevent foster care placement of children.

11. Success Stories: A Tale of Kinship Care

12. Incorporating FGDM into Kinship Case Planning • Connects the Triad • Ensures the Communication • Emphasis Relationship Building • Provides a Framework for the Plan • Shares Ownership for the Success of the Plan

13. Collaboration • Changing the Lens to Family Driven Services • Beyond Collaboration to Partnerships • Integrating New Counties into an Existing System

14. A Second Chance, Inc. Contact Us Caitlin Price, Regional VP caitlinp@asecondchance-kinship.com Ahmad Kamara, FGDM Director ahmadk@asecondchance-kinship.com SoukiKyne, Supervisor Soukik@asecondchance-kinship.com Levelle Alexander, Supervisor levellea@asecondchance-kinship.com 1341 N. Delaware Ave. Suite 101 Philadelphia, PA 19125 215-564-0790