Across the Commonwealth of Kentucky, grandparents, relatives and close friends of families step up to raise children when their parents are unable. We call them ‘kinship families’ and they are important members of communities who add to the strengths of our Commonwealth. September is Kinship Care Awareness Month – a time to recognize and celebrate kinship caregivers and all that they do to support and care for the children in their care. 

Kentucky utilizes kinship caregivers to keep children connected to their communities and culture. They step up when parents are deployed, are physically or mentally incapable of caring for their child, or if child protective services identifies a need for a child to be cared for by someone other than their parent. Approximately 59,000 (or 6%) of children in Kentucky live in kinship care according to available data. Many of these families are what are referred to as ‘informal’ placements where there is no formal system involvement and they are often arranged by family members. We have seen a growing number of youth in out-of-home placements be placed with family members and close family friends in kinship foster care. 

In an effort to prevent unnecessary child protective services involvement and meeting families where they are,  Regional Prevention Collaboratives across the commonwealth are stepping in to address supports for kinship caregivers and their kids as a key prevention strategy and keeping those households stable.

What are Regional Prevention Collaboratives Doing?

The Thriving Families, Safer Children Kentucky Regional Prevention Collaboratives are each working within their own communities to improve access to supports for kinship caregivers. Two examples include:

  • Cumberland Service Region seeks to increase the number of support groups for grandparents raising children, specifically before and during the teen years and increase caregiver awareness of child development.
  • Northeastern Service Region aims to expand campaigns and efforts targeted toward resource awareness to include parent supporters (foster parents, kinship and fictive kin caregivers). 

There are a number of supports available for kinship caregivers across the Commonwealth:

  • The kinship support hotline is staffed by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services (CHFS) to support the needs of relative and fictive kin caregivers and to provide an outlet for kinship caregivers to address issues, locate resources, and ask questions. Call (877) 565-5608 Monday-Friday from 8:00 am-4:30 pm or email relative.supports@ky.gov
  • Financial resources including Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program (KTAP), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or foster care payments
  • Social supports including virtual and in person support groups, and peer support
  • Kentucky Grandparent and Relative Caregiver Handbook from the Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky

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