Kinship Services

Kids thrive when they can be with family.

Families thrive when they have support.

At Amara, we believe in the power of family. When kids cannot live at home with their parents, it is often best for them to stay with extended family members, such as grandparents or aunts and uncles, or with close family friends. Staying with kin often means that kids don’t have to leave their friends, schools, and communities when they enter the foster care system.

Amara was one of the first foster child placement nonprofits to offer services directly to kinship families, thanks to a pilot program we helped build with the state Department of Children, Youth, and Families and the University of Washington. We also helped inform the creation of Washington state’s child-specific foster care license, a streamlined license for kinship caregivers caring for a specific child or children. Once licensed, kinship caregivers are eligible for a monthly stipend to help cover the costs of raising a child(ren) in kinship care, just like foster caregivers get.

Amara provides support to kinship caregivers in King and Pierce counties who have open dependency cases with the state of Washington. Click here for more information.

Why Kinship Care?

Take a closer look at how keeping children rooted in their extended families, their communities, and their cultures can reduce some of the trauma involved in the child welfare system. Supporting kinship families directly is one of the ways Amara is disrupting the status quo in foster care.

We’re grateful to James for sharing his story.

Resources for Parents

Most kids go back home to their parents after being in foster or kinship care. Until then, we want to help make sure you and your kids feel safe and supported. Amara offers several voluntary programs and opportunities to help reduce the trauma families experience in the foster care system.

Resources for Parents

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FAQs

What is kinship care?

When children enter foster care, state and federal laws require social workers to look for relatives or close family friends first to care for them. These caregivers are called kinship caregivers. If a relative or “fictive kin” (e.g., teacher, family friend) is not found, children are cared for by a foster family whom they did not previously know. In Washington, nearly half of youth in foster care are cared for by kinship caregivers.

Why is kinship care important?

Kinship care is best for kids entering foster care because it maintains family connections and cultural identity, minimizes trauma, and improves children’s well-being. Children who are cared for by family members are more likely to return home with their parents and have better lifelong outcomes. Relatives are also more likely to care for sibling sets. Keeping siblings together helps kids feel safe and connected to their family, culture, and history.

What is the difference between formal and informal kinship care?

Formal kinship care refers to cases with state involvement. This means that a child has been removed from their home by the state and placed into foster care with a kinship caregiver. Informal kinship care refers to cases where relatives care for children with no state involvement. Amara serves families involved in formal kinship care.

Why do kinship caregivers need support?

Historically, there hasn’t been a program to provide kinship caregivers with a monthly stipend like foster caregivers receive, nor the wraparound supports to navigate the complicated foster care process and assist in finding childcare and other resources. Because Amara developed a quality foster care program to license and support community members willing to open their homes and hearts to children in foster care, we are well-equipped to support kinship caregivers, including those who are getting licensed by the state. By making it easier for relatives to be caregivers, we can support safety and stability for everyone involved.

In line with our continued goal of positive, long-term outcomes for children, research shows that children who spent time in kinship care have lower risks of re-entry into foster care once they exit the child welfare system. Research also shows that youth fare better in kinship care in key areas including mental health and educational outcomes.

What does Amara offer kinship families?

Kinship families have access to several sources of support at Amara, including:

Amara’s Families Building Community Program serves families involved in the child welfare system in Washington state by bringing parents whose children are placed in foster care and those caring for the children (foster and kinship caregivers) together to create supportive partnerships to best care for child(ren).

Amara’s Family Resource Center in Tacoma provides access to food, baby essentials, connection to other community resources, opportunities for community-building, and more.

Amara’s Youth Development Programming serves youth in King and Pierce counties so they can strengthen their self-confidence, have fun, make new friends, and have access to free arts and enrichment activities.

Amara’s Caregiver Support Program provides individualized support to kinship and foster caregivers in North King County and in East Pierce County. We help caregivers connect to the resources they need, such as school supports, mental health referrals, childcare, and other resources.

Why is support for kinship caregivers an important step toward racial equity?

A large percentage of children placed in formal kinship care are BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). As Amara focuses on centering equity and best outcomes for children, we recognize that continuing to place children of color with white families is not in their best interest. Keeping children with their families and with adults whose identities reflect their own is critical for their sense of belonging.

It’s also important because of the inequities that have historically existed between kinship caregivers and foster caregivers. The financial support states provide to traditional foster parents, who have no prior connection to the children in their care and who are more often than not white, has historically been much greater than the support historically provided to relative and kin placements who are often lower income and BIPOC.

I am a kinship caregiver. How can I get support from Amara?

Please email our Caregiver Support program at caregiversupport@amarafamily.org

Kinship Care Can Help Transform the Child Welfare System

Trey Rabun, Amara’s former Associate Director of Kinship and Community Services, shared his professional and personal journey which led him to centering kinship care. He asked the question, “Why weren’t we truly prioritizing these families as placement options and then supporting them at the same level as foster parents?” Read more about why supporting kinship caregivers can transform the child welfare system.

Click here for more resources.

Amara occasionally texts clients to best coordinate our services. By agreeing to receive services from Amara, you agree to receive individualized communications from us via text. Clients can always opt out of receiving texts by contacting us at amara@amarafamily.org.