Photo: Richland County Children Services
September is National Kinship Care Month and Richland County Children Services (RCCS) is recognizing and celebrating all the kinship caregivers - grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers and sisters, family friends and mentors - who are stepping up for children.
Kinship Care is providing children a place of love, hope and safety when they’re own parents are unable or unwilling to do so. It may be provided by an adult relative or a non-related adult who has a bond with a child or their family (such as a teacher, neighbor, or family friend). Those individuals are called “fictive kin.” Richland County Children Services strives to ensure that children are placed with kin whenever possible. Kinship placements are important to the agency and to children because they allow the children stability and can create a unique sense of belonging by preserving families when parents are not able to do so.
In Ohio, more than 297,000 children under the age of 18 live in homes where the caregivers are relatives other than their parents, and of these, more than 189,000 live with grandparents; and 85,000 children live in the homes of their grandparents who are responsible for their care and 45,000 have cared for their grandchildren for five years or more.
The number of children in a kinship arrangement is steadily on the rise due to the difficulties faced by biological parents from drug abuse to poverty. Kinship placements tend to be more enduring over time due to blood ties than any other placement option.
No matter how the arrangement was made, kin are making a courageous and life-changing commitment to the children in their care.
Richland County Children Services offers Kinship services by assisting families in obtaining benefits and services through our Kinship Navigator team.
Kinship Navigators will help the Kinship Caregiver locate and obtain community services for which they are eligible.
These resources may include Medicaid coverage, food stamps, child care subsidy, “Child Only” TANF or Ohio Works First assistance and utilities assistance. The kinship program may also be able to assist with some legal matters such as Power of Attorney, legal custody, legal guardianship, and Caregivers Authorization Affidavit.
As we honor, Kinship Care Month, RCCS will continue to support all the kinship care providers throughout Richland County, these everyday heroes who are committed to providing love and stability to the children they care for.
RCCS encourages all individuals to invest in the lives of children and to provide them with unconditional love, support, guidance, and every available resource to ensure their health and well-being.
For more information about our Kinship Navigator program, call 419-774-4100.