This guide to creating a kin first culture was developed in 2017 based on input gathered from a convening of nine jurisdictions - Connecticut, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, and Wisconsin, as well as several key national kinship organizations - the ABA Center on Children and the Law, ChildFocus and Generations United, with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
This tool was created to foster the development of a kin first culture, defined as a child welfare system that consistently promotes kinship placement, helps children in foster care maintain connections with their family, and tailors services and supports for kinship foster families. This wikiHow includes the seven fundamental steps to creating a kin first culture and accompanying tools to implement the steps.
This wikiHow can be found in its entirety here.
Tools were collected from various states as promising practice examples for each step:
Step 1 - Lead with a kin first philosophy -- Tools
Step 2 - Develop written policies and protocols that reflect equity for children with kin and recognize their unique circumstances -- Tools
Step 3 - Identify and engage kin for children at every step -- Tools
Step 4 - Create a sense of urgency for making the first placement a kin placement -- Tools
Step 5 - Make licensing kin a priority -- Tools
Step 6 - Support permanent families for children -- Tools
Step 7 - Create a strong community network to support kin families -- Tools