Kinship Families Listening Sessions

At times, it seems the emotional and physical toll of being a caregiver leaves little time for you to care for yourself or to connect with others that may share your experiences. Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky and Bounce Coalition want you to know that YOU ARE NOT ALONE. The Bounce Coalition, in collaboration with Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky, is honored to provide training and technical assistance to kinship caregiver support groups across the Commonwealth. Our goal is to help increase knowledge among kinship caregivers on trauma-informed parenting and resilience-building tools and strategies.

Nationally, we have seen steady increases in the use of kinship care over the years. This is especially true in Kentucky, which has the second highest rate in the nation with approximately 67,000 children living in kinship care (KIDS COUNT Data Center). Grandparents, other relatives, or family friends, known as kinship caregivers, are raising children as a result of traumatic experiences, such as parental mental health or substance abuse issues, child abuse or neglect, parental death, parental incarceration, or military deployment. Kinship placement is a viable option that relieves the trauma children often face upon removal.

Parenting children as they deal with previous trauma can be challenging, particularly so for non-biological caregivers. Research shows that kinship support groups improve caregivers’ sense of support and increase formal social and concrete supports.

Throughout the next year, Bounce will partner with Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky to develop a new support group curriculum around trauma-informed care and resilience building. We will then be working directly with support group facilitators to pilot the curriculum with caregivers across Kentucky.

WE NEED YOUR HELP! In an effort to produce curriculum that meets the needs of kinship caregivers, Bounce will be hosting information gathering sessions with key support group facilitators to deepen understanding of the specific challenges they face. Two virtual sessions are scheduled for: