In honor of National Foster Care Month, the Capacity Building Center for States hosted “Creating Partnership in Kinship Treatment Foster Care” on Wednesday, May 25th, 2022 to take a look into a Kinship Treatment Foster Care (KTFC) pilot program in North Carolina and research from the African American Families and Kinship Care Lab at the University of North Carolina Greensboro.
The KTFC pilot program is conducted by the Family Focused Treatment Association (FFTA), in partnership with FFTA North Carolina Chapter providers, public providers, UNC School of Social Work, ChildFocus and Child Trends. The program uses a public/private collaboration to train staff in engaging and training kinship caregivers and supporting them and their children. A customized 10-hour training curriculum was developed for KTFC providers. The pilot is currently in year 3 and results have, for the majority, been very positive. Caregivers report satisfaction with the training and support. In fact, the FFTA is working with their membership organizations to start this pilot in another state.
The African American Families and Kinship Care Lab, founded by Dr. Tyreasa Washington, conducts research and provides services that contribute to the overall well-being of African American and Black families. Currently, this lab is conducting two studies funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD):
- Family’s Impact on the Development of African American Children in Kinship Care
- Reducing Alzheimer’s Risk Among African American Kinship Caregivers
The goal of both studies, ultimately, is to better understand the impact of kinship care, with special focus on African American families.
