User talk:Klc95230/sandbox

There are four different types of Kinship Care, Informal Kinship Care, Temporary Guardianship, Voluntary Kinship Care and Formal Kinship Care. The first type is Informal Kinship Care which means that living arrangement of the child was created by the parents and other family members without the help of the court or child welfare agencies. An example of this care could be if the parents are ill and can no longer care for their children, so a relative like a grandparent, aunt or uncle may care for the children until the parents recover. The second type of kinship care is Temporary Guardianship. This type is when the parent of a child plans to temporary leave their children with a relative. This type also requires the parents to consult an attorney and the attorney will write up papers to be sent to the court for a judge to approve. During this time of temporary guardianship, the relatives who were granted this type of kinship can make decisions for the children in the sectors of medical and education. The third type of Kinship Care is Voluntary Kinship Care. This type of kinship is when a child was placed in the home or a relative and the child welfare agency is involved. Examples circumstances that result in this type of kinship care include, if there is signs of abuse or neglect by the parents and while parents are in treatment for substance abuse or mental health issues, parents can place their children with relatives with the help of child welfare workers. The fourth type of Kinship Care is Formal Kinship Care. In this type of kinship care, "the child is placed in the legal custody of the State by a judge and the child welfare places the child with family members." The state will remain having legal custody of the child and the relatives will have physical custody, which means they must support the child financially and give them a home. If the parents and relatives agree on the child visiting their parents or siblings, the child welfare agency is responsible for creating the amount of visits and making sure that the visits happen. With this type of kinship care, the relatives become the foster parents of the child. Klc95230 (talk) 18:13, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

When fostering children or raising your relatives children it can become expensive. "According to the 2002 Urban League and the National Survey of American Families, over 50% of children in kinship care live in low-income housing."

Depending on the families circumstances they may be eligible for the following services:

• The Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF)- This program provides financial assistance for low-income families. The goal for this program is to help the families that use it, become self-sufficient.
• Food Stamps- This program helps families who are low-income afford groceries each month. The amount the families are eligible for are determined by the size of the family and their income.
• Supplemental Security Income (SSI)- This program helps children who are disabled in kinship care. The eligibility is based solely on if the is child is disabled and helps with the living expenses of the child.
• Foster Care Payments- This program may be available to kinship families under certain circumstances and "the requirements for recieveing these payments vary from state to state." Due recent changes and the passage of the Fostering Connections Act, states have more options when using title IV-E funds for kinship guardian payments.Klc95230 (talk) 23:14, 29 November 2016 (UTC)

In 2010, there were 7.8 million children who live in households where the heads were grandparents or other relatives and parents were not present. In 2012, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center, there were 2.7 million children or 4% of all children who are being raised by grandparents or other kinship care. Klc95230 (talk) 23:56, 29 November 2016 (UTC)