Two upcoming webinars for support group leaders

Advocates for Families First is offering a series of free webinars designed for leaders of support groups and organizations that work with kinship, foster, and adoptive families. The fourth session will be Effective Legislative Advocacy Strategies May 29 at 1 p.m. EST (10 a.m. PST; 11 a.m. MST; 12 p.m. CST).

In this session, participants will be introduced to the successful Florida advocacy effort to create a more supportive and normative growing up experience for children and youth in foster care through passage of the “normalcy bill,” which allows for foster and kin caregivers to make prudent parental decisions about activities that their foster and kin children participate in, without having to seek the approval of the child welfare agency. Presenters will share:

2013 NFPA Conference -- Day 2

We're here for Day 2 of the 43rd Annual Education Conference in Long Beach!

Yesterday's meetings were productive. Special guest Joe Kroll, of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC), joined us to discuss a possible collaboration among NFPA, NACAC and Generations United. We're excited about the possibility of working with these great partners!

NFPA secretary Heather Hosmer, NFPA president Irene Clements and NACAC executive director Joe Kroll

On our agenda for today:

Council of State Affiliates Meeting
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Registration
2 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Exhibit Setup
3 p.m. – 8 p.m.

Get ready to have a "beachy" time tomorrow!

Let's talk kinship!

NFPA is gathering information regarding kinship care and needs your help. 

If you have any information regarding the following questions, please contact Jan Wagner, NFPA's Kinship sub-committee chair, at wagnerjan(at)live.com. You can also leave a comment here and we'll get it to Jan. 

Don't forget to tell us your state!

1. Are relatives in your state encouraged to become licensed or are they told to seek guardianship or other less formal arrangements?
2. Are relative families supported in any way by the state such as with special guardianship/kinship subsidies, even if they are not licensed foster families?
3. Are there specific state policies and procedures for relative families? (send us a link!)
4. Are kinship families informed of free, accessible trainings and parenting support for children at risk?
5. Is there a Navigator program in place where families can obtain information on services, benefits, trainings and information sharing?
6. Are the unique needs of kinship families being recognized by the state?
7. How can NPFA reach out and support kinship families?