Kin-First Culture

When children can’t live safely with their parents and an out of home placement is necessary DCYF’s priority is to place children with a relative or close family friend. This is called kinship care. Research confirms that children do best in kinship care and that family connections are critical to the development and sense of belonging. In this session we will walk through the different kin-first culture initiatives at DCYF. Beginning with why a kin-first culture is so critical using 2020 Washington State Healthy Youth Survey data, then by looking at the unique needs of kinship caregivers.

Additionally, this session will explore resources available to address the needs of kinship caregivers which will aid in supporting permanency for families for children. Resources will include local/state-wide resources, kinship caregiver engagement unit, child specific licensing, and initial licensing (7/23) and much more. At an agency level- a kin-first philosophy is supported through our partnerships within our communities. DCYF is engaging the community in a co-design process to assist us in developing more resources for kinship families.