The Extended Family Support Program provides home-based, family-centered casework services to families in which one or more children have been abandoned in the care of an extended family member or relative. We help extended family members to establish a legal caregiving relationship as private guardians for the children in their care and provide them with resources to meet their newly formed family’s needs.
- Extended Family Support is intended keep children in a familiar environment and minimize their anxiety. Because in most Extended Family Support cases, extended family members have already been providing a large portion of the children’s care, the children retain a sense of stability and routine without traumatic changes to their daily life.
- Our staff aids relative caregivers, such as grandparents, aunts, uncles and older siblings, in achieving long-term stability for the children in our care and ensures that, when appropriate, these children remain outside of the child welfare system.
- Our staff works with families in their homes to make sure the children are safe and nurtured. We provide case management and other services if needed.
- Staff assists relative(s) who are giving substitute care in navigating community resources and legal aspects required for guardians of children under the age of 18.
- In FY 2011, Extended Family Support created a way for 63% of the families in its care to obtain legal guardianship of the related children in their care.
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Extended Family Support