April 2024Vol. 25, No. 3Advocacy Tool Provides Guidance on Supporting Kinship Families

In February 2024, Generations United, the ABA Center on Children and the Law, and Think of Us released Kinship Unity Action Agenda, an advocacy tool with guidance on supporting kinship families. The tool is an amalgamation of ideas and action items stemming from a February 2023 gathering of national advocates led by Generations United’s National Center on Grandfamilies.

During the convening—the fifth in a series held since 1997—professionals, those with lived experience, and others identified key policy opportunities to ensure the diverse and unique needs of kinship families are met. The resulting action agenda incorporates feedback from the gathering and additional focus groups to comprehensively reflect the needs and concerns of kin caregivers. It builds on recommendations in the 2022 National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers.

The action agenda is a comprehensive tool featuring a summary of results from the kinship unity convening, goals, accomplishments, core values, principles, and priorities. The priorities are encompassed by the umbrella priority that government systems are held accountable to prioritize and support kinship families. In addition to this overarching priority, the agenda outlines several collective action priorities:

• Ensure kin caregivers receive equitable financial and other support.
• Ensure policies meet kin caregivers' basic needs.
• Integrate lived experience into policy review, design, and implementation.
• Ensure racial, ethnic, and cultural equity.
• Respect and support tribal sovereignty.
• Ensure that child welfare systems value and support kinship families.
• Ensure kin caregivers have high-quality, affordable legal representation.
• Work to improve the public narrative on kinship care.
• Develop specialized programs to support kin caregivers.
• Enhance research related to kinship care and use it to address inequities.

Generations United released a video to accompany the agenda, explore its key highlights and priorities, and elevate testimonies from lived experts. Presentation slides from the video are also available.