Articles
Healing from Trauma/Neglect/Abuse
Practical Ways to Cultivate Resilience in Your Home
When raising a loved one who experienced loss, chaos, or prenatal substance exposure, you see first-hand how they struggle to manage their reactions to daily frustrations or disappointments. Their short fuse creates stress and anxiety in your home. You’ve wondered how...
Supporting Your Young Person’s Brain Health and Growth
The Tween and Teen Brain Is Growing Rapidly! During adolescence, your young loved one is experiencing tremendous growth and change in their body and brain. Did you know that in the tween and teen years, the brain focuses on creating connections between its different...
6 Practical Ways to Encourage Attachment with Your Grandchild
The children who join your home because they cannot safely be raised by their parents, may have challenging behaviors that make it hard for you to feel connected to them. They might not feel like they can trust anyone right now, and that's scary for kids of any age....
Impacts of Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol and Drugs
Caring For Prenatally Exposed Babies
Did you know that 10-11% of babies born in the US have been exposed to alcohol, drugs, or both before birth? The percentage is even higher for kids who are being raised by their grandparents or other relatives. And remember that drug exposure can include both legal...
5 Keys to Finding Joy When Raising Kids with Prenatal Exposure
Raising a child with prenatal exposure can be like a never-ending cycle of repetition. Holding tight routines and rigid structures can be tiring. The monotony can stress you, even when you know this is what is best for this child. As with any challenge in life, it's...
Establishing Daily Routines to Help Prenatally Exposed Kids Thrive
Children exposed to alcohol and drugs during pregnancy need more support to succeed. Daily routines are one of the best things you can do to help them. Prenatal exposure affects how a child’s brain works. Kids exposed to alcohol and drugs during pregnancy often have...
Challenging Behaviors
Supporting a Child Who Has Autism
When you have a child with autism in your life, whether it is a grandchild you are raising or a loved one’s child, it’s important to remember that they are capable of amazing things. This child may need additional support at school and home to find their path to...
Showing Empathy When Your Grandchild Is Struggling
When your grandchild goes off the rails with tantrums, disruptive behaviors, or dramatic emotional meltdowns, it's easy to get overwhelmed and feel out of control. You might be at your wit's end with these behaviors. Still, you can summon empathy for this child. In...
Preparing Kids With Challenging Behaviors for Adulthood
Raising any child to become a productive, successful, happy adult is a challenge. This can be even harder when raising a relative’s child, especially when the child has challenging behaviors. These behaviors might include frequent emotional meltdowns, lying, and...
ADHD
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Disrupting Birth Order
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Helping A Child Heal from Sexual Abuse
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
School Issues for Foster & Kinship Kids
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Technology/Internet and Our Kids
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Self-Care for Kinship and Foster Parents
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....
Stop and Assess: How are YOU Doing?
Caring for a relative's child, whether for a long weekend or an extended season, can be rewarding and fulfilling. However, suppose you aren't used to supporting a child impacted by loss, neglect, or prenatal substance exposure. In that case, it can also be bewildering...
Practical Tips to Starting Regular Self-Care
When you are raising a child from your extended family or tribal community, you are giving of yourself in new and challenging ways. Your grandchild (or cousin or nephew) needs you to help them overcome their struggles. It's easy to feel overwhelmed by their needs and...
Relationship with Child’s Parent
No Results Found
The page you requested could not be found. Try refining your search, or use the navigation above to locate the post.
Working Together For the Good of the Child In Your Care
Welcoming a Relative Child When You Have Children Already in the Home
Adding a child to your family changes how you function in your home. Frequently, the kids already living in your home feel these changes most profoundly. This article will refer to them as "resident children." Tips to Prepare Resident Children Whether you are offering...
Preparing Teens with Cognitive Delays for Adulthood
Have you heard from a doctor or a teacher that your grandchild (or niece or cousin) has “cognitive delays”? Or maybe you’ve heard that the child has developmental delays or an intellectual disability. Whatever it is called, you know that this child develops and learns...
10 Tips for Shared Parenting in Difficult Situations
In an ideal world, helping raise your grandchild (or cousin or family friend) goes smoothly. You provide a safe, happy landing place for the child while the parents work hard to get back on their feet. All the involved adults share the same goal of returning the child...
Phone
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.