Staffer to help address growing need for kinship childcare

After years of seeing the need for more help for family members who have been caring for the children of their relatives, Athens County Children Services has now created a Kinship Care caseworker position to provide consultation and assistance.

Angie Blakeman, placement supervisor for Children Services, explained last week that the organization's board created the new position after a dramatic rise in the number of children being cared for in kinship homes.

In 2000, Children Services had an average of eight children per month in such a situation. By 2009 that number had risen to 22 children per month.

"That was a huge change," Blakeman said. "That's over doubling the number of kids that we had that were placed with relative as opposed to being placed in foster care."

She said that while the agency had the resources to help with the foster-care situations, it did not have a caseworker for the kinship situations.

So now Stephanie Blaine, who was previously a family services caseworker, has taken up the position of kinship caseworker for the organization.

Blaine said that while she had previously also helped kinship families, she didn't have the time to devote to them that her new position allows her.

Blakeman explained that the kinship caseworker position will initially deal with families who have children in the custody of Children Services and placed with relatives. The goal, she said, as the position is developed will be for Blaine to also provide referral services for people in the community.

Blakeman pointed out that some kinship families could use help navigating various government resources such as the Department of Job and Family Services and other entities.

"We can't do a lot legally, but we can help refer them to the right place," she said.

Sometimes families feel like they are attempting to get help but are not getting a response, Blakeman said, and the kinship caseworker can help bridge that gap by acting as a go-between.

The goal is to let these kinship families know that there is now a resource available if they need support, or if they have questions. In addition to community referrals, the caseworker can provide education and advocacy to these families.

The agency currently offers a short-term financial assistance program in the form of the Kinship Permanency Incentive Program (KPI). According to literature provided by Blakeman, KPI was created to support children in the homes of family or friends who have committed to caring for them when birth parents cannot.

Eligibility is only available for children who were assumed custody of on or after July 1, 2005. A judge must have legally awarded this custody. Also, KPI requires that a caregiver's income must not be higher than 300 percent of federal poverty guidelines. For a family of three, that equals $54,930. For a family of four it equals $66,150.

To receive cash payments, eligible families need to apply through Athens County Children Services and complete a family home assessment. KPI payments are reportedly in addition to Ohio Works First cash assistance received for the child.

"As we see that there are more and more kids being placed either formally or informally with relatives, the kinship need is going to continue to grow," Blakeman said. "And that's something that we want to be able to provide as a preventative service, before child welfare investigations start happening."

Blaine said that her first job as kinship caseworker is to help navigate Job and Family Services.

When children are placed in kinship care, she said, the kinship providers are responsible for applying for all the benefits for that child, including medical assistance, and possibly food stamp and/or cash assistance.

She said a lot of these kinship providers work and don't have the time to spend at all these various agencies setting up these benefits. That is where Blaine comes in.

"I'm able to take their information, get their application for them and actually go down there and attend those appointments for them, if they'd like me to do that," she said. "That's one thing that we're doing right now that seems to be really helping getting those services streamlined."

Blakeman said that the agency's hope is that more people in the community see Children Services as a resource to help out with their kinship care needs.

Blaine said that small things like clothing vouchers have been a big help to kinship families, but the biggest help is giving them the understanding that they're not alone.

"I'm very excited," she said. "I hope that we can help and get a really good supportive service for kinship people everywhere, not just involved with us but informally as well."