About this Toolkit
Youth in care do better when they’re placed with family members or other adults they know and trust, also known as “fictive kin.” But identifying and connecting with extended kin can be a challenge for child welfare agencies.
The practical strategies described in this toolkit can help you locate and engage with family members and trusted adults (collectively called “kin” throughout this toolkit) who can provide placement or ongoing support for youth. These consistent, stable relationships can be critical to the resiliency and long-term health and well-being of young people.
These approaches to kin engagement are part of the Child Welfare Playbook, a collection of strategies maintained by a working group of child welfare professionals from every U.S. state, many Tribes, and most territories. This coalition is focused on surfacing and scaling promising practices to prevent family separation and improve outcomes for children and youth in the system. For more information, visit childwelfareplaybook.com.
Ask Children and Youth about Their Kin
Children and youth are often placed in general foster care or group homes when they have placement options with adults they already know and trust.
Asking children and youth about the supportive adults in their lives can help find more kin placements faster and avoid unnecessary placements with strangers.
How to Do This
- Make asking about connections a standard practice. Require workers to talk to children and youth about their connections, no matter how young. Supervisors can encourage this by regularly asking, “What did the youth say?”
- Ask children and youth about their supportive connections at every placement change and at regular intervals, like monthly check-ins.
- Use careful, non-threatening language. Phrase inquiries so young people don’t feel like they have to supply a placement option or they’ll be homeless. Helpful prompts include: “Who came to your last family gathering?” and “Who would you call if you needed a ride home from school?”
- Document and maintain connections. Designate an official place in your IT system for keeping a child or youth’s list of kin.
- Use heart maps with children and youth to learn more about their supportive adults. Help children and youth stay connected to supportive adults even when they’re not placement options by creating opportunities for regular phone calls, visits, or other contact.