Articles
Healing from Trauma/Neglect/Abuse
Raising This Child Matters!
Occasionally, it’s good for your mental and emotional health to pause and consider what you are doing and why it matters. Kinship caregivers play a unique and vital role in a child’s healing and overall well-being. Do you stop to think about why and how to be sure you...
Starting on the Right Foot if Raising Your Grandchild is New to You
Many factors have come together to lead you to welcome your grandchild (or any other relative) to your home. This new situation can be fulfilling and satisfying – after all, you are helping this child find healing and safety to grow and thrive. However, the new...
Fun Traditions to Build Connection in Your Family
When raising kids who have experienced loss, chaos, or neglect, it's easy to get lost in the responsibility of helping them heal. Structure, routine, and predictability are essential to creating a foundation for that healing. But sometimes, we forget that good...
Impacts of Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol and Drugs
5 Practical Tips to Help a Child Learn Organizational Skills
A child who had prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol or struggles with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) often struggles to get and stay organized. You probably feel like there is too much chaos getting them out the door to school every morning. That...
Explaining Prenatal Alcohol or Drug Exposure to Your Grandchild
Are you raising a grandchild (or niece or cousin) whom you suspect was prenatally exposed to alcohol or drugs? Do they have a confirmed diagnosis? You may wonder when and how to explain prenatal exposure to them. Avoiding the topic can lead to shame, confusion, and...
Prenatal Exposure: Myths vs. Facts
When you are raising a family member’s child, you might feel overwhelmed by the amount of information – including faulty information - you hear about prenatal substance exposure. To be sure, it’s a steep learning curve to understand the impacts of alcohol on a...
Challenging Behaviors
Staying Calm to Help a Child Regain Their Calm
When your grandchild or nephew spirals out of control or has a temper tantrum, it's easy to lose your cool and join the chaos, isn't it? After all, as Dr. Bruce Perry frequently says, "dysregulation is contagious!" So how can you stay calm, share your sense of calm,...
Is My Grandchild Too Affectionate with Strangers?
Many young children feel free and safe to approach strangers with smiles and waves. They have not yet processed the "stranger danger" conversations that parents and caregivers will dole out over the coming years. They are curious, innocent, and trusting. But what do...
Connecting with Your Grandchild When You Must Correct Behavior
When parenting a grandchild, niece, or nephew who has experienced trauma, the balance of structure and nurture can be difficult to manage. The goal is to maintain the vital connections of trust, safety, and confidence the child feels in your home while helping them...
ADHD
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Disrupting Birth Order
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Helping A Child Heal from Sexual Abuse
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School Issues for Foster & Kinship Kids
Tips to Set Up Your Grandchild for Success in School
Your grandchild's (or niece's or nephew's) school experience will likely be very different from yours in some ways and similar in others. Some of us have happy school memories, like a favorite teacher, childhood best friend, or a fun field trip. Others have unhappy...
Technology/Internet and Our Kids
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Self-Care for Kinship and Foster Parents
4 Quick Tips for Protecting Your Marriage or Partnership
Marriage or life partnership is hard work. Balancing your needs as an individual with the needs of your relationship requires attention to your schedules and developing habits to carve out the time to nurture this connection. When raising a grandchild, niece, or...
Tips to Help Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
When you are a grandparent suddenly raising your grandchildren, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the changes and needs you must consider. You might also be an aunt or family friend raising young children from your extended family or tribal community. Many factors can...
Do You Have A Supportive Safety Net?
Are you a grandmother or aunt raising a loved one's child? Do you have several kids regularly in and out of your home for the love, nurture, and stability you offer? Partnering with others in your community to care for these young people is a privilege and honor....
Relationship with Child’s Parent
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Working Together For the Good of the Child In Your Care
The 5 Be’s of Welcoming an Older Child to Your Home
When welcoming an older child to your home, it can be challenging to strike a balance. You don’t want to come on too strong and overwhelm them. You also don’t want to be too relaxed or laid back because you want them to feel welcome and safe. You can do several things...
The Benefits of Raising a Grandchild or Other Young Loved One
When you first took in your grandkids (or other loved one), you may have done it because it was “the right thing to do.” The kids didn’t do anything to deserve this, and family cares for family. But it still feels hard. It might help to focus on the significant...
Practical Ways to Set Your Grandchild Up for Success
It's challenging to raise your grandchild (or other loved one) in today's world. Your grandchild’s early life experiences can make your role in their life feel overwhelming. The impacts of their trauma or prenatal exposure to drugs or alcohol can create many obstacles...
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This website was supported with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families’ Children’s Bureau through the Improving Child Welfare Through Investing in Family grant #HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CW-1921. The purpose of this grant is to provide an array of kinship preparation services and ongoing kinship supports, and provide shared parenting to build trusting relationships between all out-of-home caregivers and parents of children/youth in foster care to ensure parents and families remain actively involved in normal child-rearing activities.
This website is supported by Grant Number # HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CW-1921 from the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Children’s Bureau.