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4. Create A Sense Of Urgency For Making The First Placement A Kin Placement​

Research shows that kinship foster care is more stable than non-kin care and can help prevent disruptions that are harmful to a child’s well being. Kin first agencies invest necessary resources and align their policies, practices and staff to make the child’s first placement with kin whenever possible.

Strategies include:

  1. Create a firewall that requires approval by a supervisor, program manager or director for all non-kin placements.
  2. Provide staff with tools they need to place with kin immediately including:
    1. Well articulated roles and responsibilities across units for the tasks associated with making an initial kin placement
    2. A well established process of teamwork within and across units to do everything it takes to make the initial placement a kin placement
    3. Streamlined processes for conducting background checks and fingerprinting
    4. Clear procedures for conducting initial home checks
    5. Training on the requirements of the Indian Child Welfare Act and how to work effectively with tribal governments and their child welfare agencies

 

Click here to download the full wikiHow guide

Click here to download the full Kinship Promising Practices brief

 

Promising State Examples

New York Firewall Policy

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  • New York’s firewall policy requires a high-level review of efforts to achieve a kinship placement before any non-kinship placement is made. This high-level review is required at the child’s initial removal and any time there is a placement change into a non-kinship placement.
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