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Kinship Care

Links to National Organizations

The Grandparent Information Center provides information and resources to grandparents who are primary caregivers raising their grandchildren. The Center is working with national and local community-based service agencies in childcare, aging, legal, and family services to address this rapidly emerging phenomenon. The Grandparent Information Center also issues a newsletter for grandparents four times a year that may be ordered by contacting the phone number above.

The American Bar Association Center for Children and the Law keeps abreast of developments in the law affecting American kinship care families and provides technical and educational assistance to other national kinship care programs. The ABA's Center on Children and the Law administers a small grant program to fund local kinship care efforts. The Center also prepares legal research and writing on national kinship care issues and trends.

The American Public Human Services Association represents state and local public human service agencies including public services for children. The Association has a particular focus on the area of public policy, legislation, and regulation of state and local public child welfare administrations.

The Children's Defense Fund seeks to represent the interest of all of America's children, to awaken the country to their plight, and to organize the resources of the country on their behalf. CDF has a reputation for the detailed study of issues, has litigated and lobbied the Federal government, and conducted media campaigns as well as conferences for child advocates and national grassroots efforts such as the Stand for Children Rally in June 1996 on the Mall.

Generations United is a national coalition dedicated to intergenerational policy programs and issues. Generation United hold annual conferences which focuses on issues including those of grandparents and other relative caregivers, this organization also offers the National Guide to State and Local Intergenerational Coalitions and Networks and Young and Old Together: Meeting Community Needs through Intergenerational Partnerships.

The National Coalition of Grandparents is a proactive organization comprised of individuals from the business and professional communities and members of grandparent support and advocacy groups in The United States and Canada. The organization is committed to protecting and ensuring the inherent rights of grandparents, children, and their kin. The NCOG offers information and materials on how to start a support group within your community. Call the number above for more information and for attorney referrals for kinship care providers seeking help for a relative addicted to drugs or alcohol.

The National Council on Aging provides comprehensive information to all seniors, including kinship caregivers unexpectedly raising a family for the second time around. Such information is available through the Council's extensive library service that can be contacted at the number above. The Council also offers a variety of kinship care and intergenerational programs throughout the course of the year.

Three grandmothers raising their grandchildren in Niles, Michigan founded ROCKING. ROCKING has become a national resource for grandparents seeking support in their efforts to raise their children's children. The main focus of ROCKING is to offer sound, practical advice to grandparent caregivers that are looking for resources to help keep their families intact. ROCKING offers the following publications that may be ordered: (1) The Empowerment of Grandparents; (2) Are You Raising a Grandchild? (3) What is this Thing Called Kinship Care?; (4) Emotional Blackmail and Grandparents; (5) How to Start a Support Group for Grandparent Caregivers; and (6) How to Write Letters to Senators and Congressmen.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the United States. It was established in 1948 by Jim Casey, one of the founders of United Parcel Service, and his siblings, who named the Foundation in honor of their mother. The primary mission of the Foundation is to foster public policies, human-service reforms and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today's vulnerable children and families. In pursuit of this goal, the Foundation makes grants that help states, cities, and communities fashion more innovative, cost-effective responses to these needs.

The Administration for Children & Families (ACF), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for federal programs which promote the economic and social well being of families, children, individuals, and communities. Through its federal leadership, ACF sees: families and individuals empowered to increase their own economic independence and productivity; strong, healthy supportive communities having a positive impact on the quality of life and the development of children; partnerships with individuals, front-line service providers, communities, American Indian Tribes, Native communities, states, and Congress that enable solutions which transcend traditional agency boundaries; services planned, reformed, and integrated to improve needed access; and a strong commitment to working with people with developmental disabilities, refugees, and migrants to address their needs, strengths, and abilities.

The Children' Bureau Express is designed for professionals concerned with child abuse and neglect, child welfare and adoption. It provide timely, topical articles, tools, publications, resources and Web sites. It also provides reports on the latest research, a forum for interdisciplinary communication and links to full-text documents. The Children's Bureau Express is sponsored by the Children's Bureau, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and published by the National Adoption Information Clearinghouse.

Connect for Kids, an award-winning multimedia project of the Benton foundation, helps adults make their communities better places for families and children. The Web site offers a place on the Internet for adults - parents, grandparents, educators, policymakers and others - who want to become more active citizens, from volunteering to voting with kids in mind. The Connect for Kids team is made up of children's experts, journalists and communications specialist in Washington, DC.

The Children of Alcoholics Foundation (COAF) is a national non-profit that provides a range of educational materials and services to help professionals, children and adults break the intergenerational cycle of parental substance abuse. COAF provides extensive information on kinship care and substance abuse on their web site.

The Foundation for Grandparenting is a non-profit organization whose mission is to raise grandparent consciousness, and promote the importance of grandparenting as a role and function that both gives important meaning and empowerment to later life, and benefits all family members. The foundation provides research, program development, education, communication and networking services.

The Urban Institute is a nonprofit nonpartisan policy research and educational organization that was established to examine the social, economic, and governance problems facing the nation. It provides information and analysis to public and private decision-makers to help them address these challenges and strives to raise citizen understanding of these issues and tradeoffs in policy making.

The U.S. Census Bureau collect and provides timely, relevant, and quality data about the people and economy of the United States. The U.S. Census Bureau published a report entitled, "Coresident Grandparents and Grandchildren," by Ken Bryson and Lynne M. Casper, July 1, 1999. To access the report log on to: www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/grandparents.html

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