Research (and our personal experience) shows that common sources of stress among foster and kinship caregivers revolve around the topics of financial hardship, children’s well-being, interactions with the child’s biological parents, social support, mental health support, and working with professionals. Our Family Advocacy service is intended to take a holistic approach in helping meet the individual needs of each caregiver or family unit.

We routinely hear that foster and kin caregivers feel they do not have adequate support to continue to do what they do. This can ultimately lead to disruption of placements or families living in crisis mode. We hear caregivers address that they feel like they are on an island of their own as they navigate their role. Through this service, our goal is to help families stabilize and thrive, increase foster/kinship caregiver retention, and ensure caregivers feel empowered in their roles.

Family Advocacy is ideal for kinship caregivers, new foster parents, or caregivers who would benefit from an added layer of support regardless of how long they have been in their role. It is a voluntary service, free to use, and intended to last three to six months. Caregivers are matched with one of our family advocates who will help create a meaningful service plan to address each family’s unique needs. This can include, but is not limited to:

• Assistance navigating and/or accessing resources 
• Help navigating benefits 
• Understanding the process and language of foster/kinship care 
• Someone to attend court with you
• Budgeting assistance  
• One-on-one support
• Parent coaching
• Help understanding your legal rights and responsibilities
• Advocacy with other professionals

We are not attorneys, but instead, our Advocates are a team of professional individuals who have lived experience in some way with the child welfare system and are eager to support families in their journeys.