When a child experiences abuse or neglect and is separated from their birth home, an immediate priority for the team at Arms Wide is to support a relative to care for them, in what we call kinship care. This could either be a temporary arrangement or a permanent home, depending on the issues the parent(s) are facing and the best interests and safety of the child. Either way, kinship care is a priority, as it maintains connections for children with people whom they may already be familiar and helps ease a major life transition that is typically jarring, and often traumatizing for the child.

Kinship care is the first, best route for a child.

Rather than living with strangers, a child will have a stronger sense of trust and security when living with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or other relatives through kinship care arrangements. If no family members are available to care for the child, we  also support fictive kin, which could include non-relatives who have a relationship with the child like neighbors, teachers, coaches or mentors. Ensuring a child is connected with kin also reduces the likelihood of having to split up siblings between different foster families, and it helps to preserve cultural identity and community connections, which are essential to a child’s mental and emotional well-being.

Kinship caregivers are not alone on this journey.

Kinship care can either be arranged formally by the state and organizations like Arms Wide or can be a private, informal arrangement by the family. However, formal kinship caregivers who are licensed by an agency like Arms Wide have access to financial support and services like those we provide, which include specialized trainings, referrals, and 24-hour support from our staff, all provided at no cost to the family.  Whether informal or informal kinship arrangements, an estimated 250,000 children in Texas are raised by a grandparent or other relative.

We help navigate life beyond kinship care.

When kids experience foster care or kinship care, the primary goal is to reunify the child with their birth parents after the parents have satisfied legal requirements to regain custody. Kinship care arrangements tend to support  easier transitions to reunification. In cases where reunification is not an option, kinship caregivers can either adopt or assume Permanent Managing Conservatorship of the child. This is another step our team helps kinship caregivers and children navigate, if that option arises.

“The more we can do to preserve families with services like kinship care and permanency support,” says DeJuana S. Jernigan, MSW, Arms Wide President and CEO, “the more successful we can be in reducing the number of kids who age out of the welfare system in Texas, which is nearly 1,000 Texas children each year.”

To learn more about our Kinship Care services, contact us through our Family Inquiry Form or call us at 800.460.6298.