Kinship Care Support
Kinship Care - The full time care, nurturing, and protection of children by: Relatives (through blood, adoption or marriage); Godparents; Stepparents; or any adult who has a bond which the family recognizes as significant to the child/family.
· Informal Kinship Care is parenting of children by kin as a result of a decision by the family.
· Formal Kinship Care is parenting of children by kin as a result of a determination by the court and the child protective service agency.
Our Heritage Preserved
The UJIMA Community Services Kinship Care Supportive Services Program. We believe that Kinship Care-Giving is a traditional part of our culture and that Kinship Care is family preservation of our families—by virtue of our broader definition of family.
We believe in strengthening the bonds of the family
Types of Services Available:
- Legal referral information
- DSHS System information
- Cash assistance referral information
- Tangible support referral information for those who qualify: home or car repairs, utilities assistance, etc.
- Support Groups, Summer Camp referrals, etc.
- Foster/Adopt information
- Counseling information
- Use of community trained paraprofessionals
- Access to King County Kinship Navigator
- Facilitation of Trainings/Discussion:
Specialized Kinship Care Parent Education Course
PRIDE Training Classes
General parent education
Sudden placement
Love/burden of the child
Immediate and ongoing obstacles of caring for the child
Family dynamics and role issues
Services of support (and loss due to family tension)
Guardianship / Adoption issues/pressures
Establishing Programs which have:
Tangible assistance and/or referral services
Strong component of social support
Institutional support and funding
Long-term and ongoing services
Ability to taps into the historic strengths and resilience of families
Knowledge to deal with ways formal systems are not designed to meet the needs
Flexibility
UJIMA Community Services, following the mandates of the law (MEPA as Ammended in 1996), works primarily in King County, Snohomish County, and Pierce County specializing in the recruitment, training, licensing, and support of families for foster care, adoption, and kinship care placement of African American children in Washington State.
