Tag Archives: foster parent support

Posted on by

Connecting Families: Foster Parent Support Groups

All around the globe, peer support meetings are being held to help individuals through a variety of unique challenges and situations. Whether it’s recently bereaved parents talking through grief or veterans discussing their PTSD, peer groups can be found nearly everywhere because they’ve been proven to be emotionally and psychologically beneficial.

foster parent support groups

Foster parent support groups are no different.

Peer support is based on the principle that individuals who have faced and overcome adversity can offer useful information, encouragement and mentorship to others facing similar situations.  A veteran who has come back from a war and assimilated back to civilian life will, in most cases, have a better understanding of what a soldier who just returned home is going through than someone without that distinctive experience.

According to a May 2019 report from Mental Health America:

“Both quantitative and qualitative evidence indicate that peer support lowers the overall cost of mental health services by reducing re-hospitalization rates and days spent in inpatient services, increasing the use of outpatient services. Peer support improves quality of life, increases and improves engagement with services, and increases whole health and self-management.”

In the case of foster parents, who better to understand the complicated foster care system, the unique needs of the children and the emotional roller coaster of parenting them than those who have been through it themselves.

That’s why foster care agencies throughout the country hold meetings where former and current foster, adoptive and kinship parents can share their experiences and offer an understanding ear and comforting shoulder.

In St. Cloud, Minnesota, Family TIES (Training, Information, Encouragement and Support) held three separate meetings a month to help parents connect and support one another, according to the SC Times:

“It was kind of a dream of mine from the very beginning, that we would have a support system in place for people coming in, because of the challenges we found when we started and wanting to help those coming in to do foster care,” (veteran foster parent Deana) Hoeschen said.


At meetings, they visit, eat and sometimes get training on issues like fetal-alcohol syndrome and trauma-informed care.


They also discuss the practical: what to do about health insurance and how to navigate the paperwork.


“It can be a really big challenge … to be able to get questions answered in a timely manner,” Hoeschen said.

In New Jersey, embrella holds Connecting Families community based meetings for all open licensed resource homes in the state. These meetings, held in northern, central and southern locations, are opportunities for parents to not only share their stories but also to connect with others who have been through it before.

“There are many triumphs and challenges that come along with being a resource parent that may not always be understood by everyone, but a fellow resource parent understands,” embrella’s Director of Support Services Tara Rizzolo said.

The meetings are also a chance to take trainings, learn about essential services and build a support network.

“embrella’s Connecting Families activities provide a forum for resource families to share their experiences, form friendships and establish lifelong bonds,” Rizzolo continued. “The purpose of our meetings is to bring families together, so that they can connect with others and establish a network of support.  This helps to strengthen who they are as parents and the care they provide for our children.” 

If you’re a licensed resource parent with an open home in New Jersey, consider attending a nearby Connecting Families meeting.

If you’re outside of New Jersey, click here to find a support group near you.

Posted on by

Kinship Navigator Programs:  How the FFPSA Empowers States to Help Kinship Parents

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), recently passed through Congress, has massive implications for kinship caregivers in the United States.  As previously reported on this site, kinship care, the placement of children with relatives instead of traditional foster parents, has been increasingly viewed as the best form of foster care.  This is largely because it uses a child’s existing connections with family for placement instead of relying on people whom the child may not know and might have trouble integrating with.  Traditional foster care placement, although intended to serve the best interests of children, often introduces its own brand of pain and trauma when a child is removed from their family.  Unfortunately, existing practices in the child welfare system have created momentum in states which can lead to kinship care being underfunded when compared to traditional foster care or congregate (group home) care placements.  Over the course of more than fifteen years, Kinship Navigator Programs (KNPs) have been gaining traction as a way to bolster informal kinship care to provide better outcomes for the children living with relative caregivers.

Initially started as state and county-based initiatives, KNPs gained their first national sponsorship through Family Connection Grants provided by the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.  However, with only two rounds of these grants occurring in 2009 and 2012, KNPs have not been able to truly flourish in every state.  According to Grandfamilies.org, as a result of budgetary crises, only the KNPs in Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Washington state have survived into the present day.

Continue reading →

Posted on by

Defining “Normal”: Creating a Sense of Normalcy For Foster Youth

For many, childhood is marked with memories of sleepovers and vacations or passing the driver’s exam and taking that first drive to an after-school job. For foster children, however, it can be difficult to share in these experiences that so many consider normal. As wards of the state, foster children are at the mercy of the legal system – their foster parents are required to go jump through several legal hoops such as restrictions on car insurance, required background checks for potential chaperones or pre-scheduled court dates and visitation periods. Some of these even require the foster parents to personally fund the endeavors. Child welfare providers across the country are increasingly recognizing that these regulations, once thought to protect children, actually impede the foster care system from providing the best care possible.

What Is Normalcy for Foster Youth and Why Is It Important?

“Before, we were trying to keep kids from getting hurt…. We put them in a room and made sure nothing happened to them,” Mike Watson, an executive for a Florida foster care agency, said of previous foster care standards. “We don’t want supervisors. We want people to parent. We had created this artificial relationship where you had state-sanctioned individuals in a home acting like a jailer.” Now, there is a push for “normalcy.” Normalcy is a standard of care that enables foster youth to share in the everyday activities that allow them to develop the skills that will build a true sense of independence. But what, exactly, is normalcy for foster youth? Continue reading →

Posted on by

The State of Kinship Care Legislation 2017, Part I: Best Intentions

Every year, child welfare agencies across the country are increasing their emphasis on kinship care, a form of foster care that gives placement preference to relative caregivers instead of traditional foster parents who are strangers to the children placed with them. Widely recognized as the better way to care for foster children, kinship care legislation has been making its way to law for the better part of the last decade. However, kinship placements are very different from traditional ones – the complex intrafamily dynamics and unique family relationships combined with support systems that fail to account for these aspects of kinship care often mean that legislation can fall short of helping relative caregivers. In 2017, California introduced its Resource Family Approval process (RFA), a reform that, in part, aims to register and financially compensate relative caregivers in the same ways that the state handles traditional foster parents.

A typical complaint of relative caregivers is a lack of state support so this reform seemed to be, from the legislators’ perspectives, a slam dunk – getting these kinship families registered with the state would make it easier to pay them the appropriate stipends while also linking them up to necessary supports beyond the traditional financial assistance.

Very quickly, however, flaws with the system began to emerge. “I’m actively expecting my landlord to show up at any point in time and hand me a three-day notice and start the eviction process,” Mahoganie LaFranks, a Los Angeles kinship provider, said. “I love this kid, but I am completely petrified.” LaFranks had begun the RFA process in September of 2017, but had been caring for a teen since January. By the time December rolled around, the process was still not complete – meaning LaFranks was not receiving the $923 monthly stipend that resource families typically receive in California. With many new responsibilities regarding the teen but without the extra money, LaFranks found herself behind on rent and struggling to find a job that fits into her parenting schedule. Continue reading →

Posted on by

“Grandma Underground”: Kentucky Parents Fight for Kinship Care Subsidy

2013 was a difficult year for the child welfare system in Kentucky as budget estimates failed to cover its growth and several funding cuts were made. Among these cuts was the kinship care subsidy, which helps kinship parents shoulder the additional cost of raising their relatives. Now, kinship parents across the state are coming together through what Kentucky grandparent Norma Hatfield calls the “Grandma Underground.”

Kinship parents receive funds thanks to the Fostering Connections Act.

Across the nation, kinship care has largely been considered the way forward in child welfare. As covered in our previous article, “Kinship Care in the United States: An Overview,” we explained how child welfare in the US is shifting to rely more and more heavily on kinship caregivers. This comes in the wake of studies and other evidence that life with relatives provides fewer disruptions and more positive outcomes for children in care. To ensure fewer disruptions, kinship programs employ what is known as “presumptive eligibility” – that is, the state presumes that a relative caregiver is eligible to be a foster parent and will place the child with them before the standard background checks and inspections are completed, with the understanding the caregiver in question complete such processes as soon as possible. Presumptive eligibility also allows kinship caregivers to receive the kinship care subsidy while being processed.
Continue reading →

Posted on by

Foster Parent Online Support Groups Connecting Families

foster parent online support groupsFoster parenting is a 24/7 job with no days off! No wonder foster parents need easy access to support and information on their schedule – not just 9-5. When online support groups started in the early 80s, foster parents discovered a new way to get moral support and advice when they needed it, and the trend continues to grow today.

As you might guess, users say convenience is the best benefit of online support groups for foster parents. With both parents’ and kids’ schedules getting more and more demanding, the ability to get what you need, when you need it, is essential to everyone. More convenient for busy foster parents than traditional support groups with monthly or weekly face-to-face meetings, online support groups offer many other benefits as well. Continue reading →