InterCultral Children & Family Services

Program - Frequently Asked Questions:

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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

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 REFERRAL SERVICES Available Through the King County Caregiver Support Network (contact them at www.KCCaregiver.org) :

• 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