Kinship Navigator Program Resources

GrandFamilies journal article evaluating the Kinnections kinship navigator program provided by Wayfinder Family Services in Northern California. The study finds that kinship caregivers who participate in the program are more likely to be referred to services, be satisfied with those services, and report increased levels of social support than their peers who did not participate. 

HHS brief that describes the benefits of kinship care and recent steps that states and the federal government have taken to promote kinship care. The brief also identifies further opportunities for states to promote kinship care, including by adopting kin-specific licensing standards, participating in Title IV-E kinship navigator programs, and broadening their definition of relative/kin.

Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network resource listing kinship navigator programs by state, tribe, and territory. Updated periodically. 

Part 4 of the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Family Ties series based on a survey of state child welfare administrators. This resource examines state policies and strategies for identifying, notifying, and supporting kinship caregivers, as well as the availability of kinship navigator programs in each state.

Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network brief highlighting the Colorado Department of Human Services' Colorado Kinnected program. Kinnected is a county-administered, state-supervised program. Its mission is to “strengthen the sustainable support community around children, youth, and their families” who are involved with the child welfare system. This mission is accomplished by drawing on the family and child’s existing connections to support the placement of children with kin caregivers. Program goals include efforts to reunify children with their parents and a whole-family approach to prevent the need for children to be involved with child welfare. If kin connections do not already exist, the model is designed to help build a support system. The Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse gave the program a “supported” practice rating in March 2024, following a December 2022 rating of “promising." Due to its inclusion in the Clearinghouse, the State receives federal reimbursement of 50% of related expenses for each county that implements Kinnected. The program is currently in the process of a state-wide expansion to support any counties outside of the pilot that would like to implement the model.