One of the most fundamental differences between kinship/grandfamilies and parent-headed families is the lack of an automatic legal relationship between the caregiver and child. Without such a relationship, access to services and supports for the child and their kinship/grandfamily can be challenging, if not impossible. This webinar will explore the various legal relationship options and the array of public benefits and tax credits that are available to these families.
Please join the Director of the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center, Ana Beltran, JD, and Network subject matter expert, Heidi Redlich Epstein, MSW, JD, for this informative webinar.
This webinar is designed to inform state, tribal, and territorial government agency staff across the array of systems the Network supports, including kinship navigator programs, and Area Agencies on Aging. To help support kinship/grandfamilies in whichever system you work, it is important to understand the array of legal options and public benefits available to them.
Ana Beltran, JD, is an attorney and the Director of the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center at Generations United. She is a national expert on grandfamilies, authoring multiple Generations United publications on the subject and publishing articles in various publications and academic journals. For more than 20 years, Ana has provided kinship technical assistance and training across the country and has spoken extensively about relatives raising children at national and state conferences. She previously served as Co-Director of Generations United’s National Center on Grandfamilies. Through a joint collaboration, Ana was primary author of the first set of comprehensive National Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards. As someone who was raised in part by her grandmother, Ana has a personal commitment to the families.
Heidi Redlich Epstein, MSW, JD, is the Director of Kinship Policy and State Projects at the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law. Heidi developed and co-manages www.grandfamilies.org, a national website of kinship laws and resources, in partnership with Casey Family Programs and Generations United. She also provides training and technical assistance on kinship issues and co-authored the National Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards. In her State Projects work, Heidi manages the Permanency Barriers Project and Trial Skills for Child Welfare Professionals as well as providing technical assistance and legal training to judges, attorneys, and social service professionals on various permanency issues. Prior to her work at the ABA, Heidi was a Law Guardian for Legal Aid of Maryland and a residential social worker in upstate New York.