General Kinship Care

What are Kinship Navigator Programs?

More than 2.5 million children are currently being raised by their grandparents and other relatives, both formally through the children and youth services and informally through private family arrangements. When these caregivers take on this responsibility, they often receive little to no financial support or advice regarding how to navigate the many systems they’ll encounter.  They need help meeting the needs of the children in their care. While some child protection agencies are shifting toward a “kin first” culture and practice that prioritizes supporting kin caregivers, many still get lost in the competing demands of caseworkers. Kinship navigator programs help fill that gap by providing caregivers with information, education, and referrals to a wide range of services and supports. The Kinship Navigator’s goal is to maximize the caregivers’ ability to provide safety and stability and, if needed, permanency for the children placed in their home.

 

Our core values

Pennsylvania KinConnector works in all 67 counties across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The KinConnector program was established July 2019 as a direct result of PA House Bill 2133, which established a statewide kinship navigator program under the Department of Human Services and in accordance with the Family First Prevention Act of 2018.

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We believe:

• Every child deserves a safe, supportive and permanent family and every kinship family should have the support of a strong and caring community.

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This core value shapes the way KinConnector works, guiding our program decisions and actions

• We believe in the intrinsic dignity and value of every person. We strive for fairness and justice in the way people — our staff and our communities — are treated, and the opportunities they have to succeed by addressing racism, inequitable treatment and other barriers to inclusion.

• We embrace new ways of thinking, planning and acting that improve the impact and effectiveness of our work. We continuously learn from experience, each other, our partners and the communities we serve.

• We forge meaningful partnerships as the foundation of all of our work and use our positive influence to improve the lives of the children, kinship families and communities we serve.

• We are accountable and use our resources efficiently and effectively so that we may ensure the KinConnector program will continue to improve the lives of children and kinship families across Pennsylvania.