Creating a kin-first system: Opening doors and removing barriers November 20, 2025

Join us for a free webinar to explore the importance of prioritizing kinship care first and to learn strategies and tools for supporting kinship providers.

Learning objectives:

Understand the benefits of supporting and prioritizing relatives and fictive kin as first placements and permanency options, utilizing a customer service approach

Identify barriers that relatives and fictive kin providers experience in the processes for placement consideration, foster care/kinship licensing, fostering and adopting

Recognize caregiver trauma and burnout and the impact it can have on placement stability for relatives and fictive kin providers Learn strategies and tools for supporting kinship providers

Hear from Ali Caliendo of Foster Kinship about her organization’s evidence-based Kinship Navigator Model and lessons learned in training, licensing, and supporting kinship providers

Hear from Dawn Barton of South Carolina Department of Social Services about the agency’s work with this model and its efforts to prioritize kin-first placements