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Kinship-led families have unique needs, and finding resources to meet those needs can be a challenge. Today, we're talking with Mike Heath, a Resource Specialist with the Coalition for Children, Youth & Families in Wisconsin. The Coalition is a Resource Center for birth parents, foster families, adoptive families, relative/kinship/and like-kin caregivers, and child welfare and Tribal agency professionals.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What are the most frequently reported everyday needs or resource gaps caregivers are experiencing?
• What is the most pressing need these kids are facing when they come to a new caregiver?
• What are the urgent needs caregivers have when welcoming a child or a sibling group, etc?
• Where can families find help with immediate essentials—such as beds, cribs, car seats, clothing, and school supplies?
• Which phone numbers should caregivers keep on speed dial?
• How should a relative caregiver secure the ability to make medical and school decisions quickly?
• What papers or forms should caregivers request on day one? From whom?
• Managing the documentation and paperwork can be a significant challenge for a new caregiver. Do you have any recommendations for managing this?
• Should school enrollment be a priority in that first week?
• How should a caregiver start the process of ensuring medical coverage (dental, vision, prescriptions, and mental health included)?
• Where should I start if I find the Medicaid/CHIP process confusing?
• Once a kinship-led family is settling in, what additional needs or options should they consider?
• Where to go to learn about those options?
• What are the possible financial resources that caregivers should look into?
• Importance of self-care, mental wellness, and community for both caregivers and the children they support
• If a new caregiver listens to this and does only three things this week, what should they be?

Resources:

• Free Download Checklist for the first 30 days as a Kinship Caregiver
• Virtual Resource Kit for Relative Caregivers - Virtual Resource Kit: Relative Caregiving - Wisconsin Family Connections Center
• Relative Caregiver Learning Pathway on Champion Classrooms (Free recorded webinar series) - Relative Caregiver Learning Pathway Link
• Collection of Resources for Relative Caregivers - https://wifamilyconnectionscenter.org/how-do-i/find-support-as-a-relative-caregiver/
• Coalition for Children, Youth & Families -

Support the show

Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

• Weekly podcasts
• Weekly articles/blog posts
• Resource pages on all aspects of family building

Click here to send us a topic idea or question for Weekend Wisdom.

Jackson TerKeurst was born in Liberia and by the age of 7 was a war orphan living in dire circumstances. So how did he end up as an entrepreneur, leader, and now author? Join us for an inspirational conversation about identity, overcoming, and redemption from Jackson's new book, The Only Way Forward is Back.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Cultural differences
• How challenges like poverty and food insecurity impacted your first experiences in the States
• How did your trauma manifest in your behavior at home?
• How did your family help heal those impacts?
• Discuss the additional unique challenges that being adopted as a teenager may have presented during your early months and years in your new family.
• Discuss how you’ve worked on answering "Who Am I?" across the chapters of your life?
• What were the helpful or healing experiences that went into pulling all those parts of your identity together to create today’s Jackson TerKuerst, husband, father, son, brother, entrepreneur, and now author?
• What would you say to parents or caregivers who are in the thick of it right now, walking with a child who is struggling to figure out who they are and where they belong?

Support the show

Please leave us a rating or review. This podcast is produced by www.CreatingaFamily.org. We are a national non-profit with the mission to strengthen and inspire adoptive, foster & kinship parents and the professionals who support them.

Creating a Family brings you the following trauma-informed, expert-based content:

• Weekly podcasts
• Weekly articles/blog posts
• Resource pages on all aspects of family building