Description:
Kinship caregivers—grandparents, other relatives, and close family friends raising children when parents cannot—often take on this role with little preparation and limited support. When children have disabilities or special health care needs, the demands on kinship families grow even more complex. This webinar will explore the unique strengths, challenges, and needs of kinship caregivers, drawing from both research and lived experience. Presenters will share insights from KinCarolina, an innovative program supporting kinship families raising children with disabilities or special health care needs, highlight findings from current research, and offer strategies for building inclusive, trauma-informed, and family-centered supports. Participants will also hear directly from a kinship caregiver, with the session designed to help professionals deepen their understanding of kinship caregiving in the context of disability and strengthen the networks that sustain families.
Learning Objectives:
By end of the program, participants will be able to:
1. Identify three unique strengths, needs, and/or challenges of kinship caregivers raising children with disabilities.
2. Explain the KinCarolina framework for defining disability and the purpose behind it.
3. Describe three important considerations for engaging kinship caregivers in research
Trainers:
Amanda Klein-Cox, Ed.D., is a Senior Research Associate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, School of Social Work (SSW). Dr. Klein-Cox serves as the Project Implementation Manager for the KinCarolina program, which provides comprehensive supports to kinship caregivers raising children with disabilities or special health care needs in South Carolina. As a researcher, Dr. Klein-Cox is interested in bridging the fields of education and social work around child and family well-being, particularly in the area of kinship care. Since becoming a mom herself, she is also interested in the intersection of maternal mental health and well-being with child welfare and family well-being outcomes. Dr. Klein-Cox also works as an evaluator and consultant, providing organizations in education and social work across the country with evaluation services, coaching, and training to help them measure the impact of their programming for children and families. Dr. Klein-Cox began her career as a middle school social studies teacher in Baltimore, Maryland and has over eight years of experience as a practitioner in urban schools and districts. She has a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Master of Public Policy degree from Johns Hopkins University and a Doctorate of K-12 Education Leadership and Policy from Vanderbilt University.
Dr. Angela Tobin, OTD, OTR/L is an associate researcher for the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, with five years of experience in research related kinship caregiving. Her current research interests include identifying factors that support kinship caregiver and family well-being both within families and systems at large through qualitative and translational research. She currently serves as the Program Intervention Manager for KinCarolina, a program and research study designed for kinship caregivers raising children with special health care needs funded by the Duke Endowment. She has taken an interdisciplinary and holistic approach to supporting kinship families with a background in occupational therapy and educational psychology. Additionally, Dr. Tobin is the founder and director of Kinship Caregivers Connect, an online support group network for kinship caregivers in Ohio established in 2020. As a kinship care trainer and consultant, Dr. Tobin has developed and facilitated trainings for interdisciplinary professionals around understanding and supporting kinship families, and implementing support groups. She has received research funding through the Integrating Special Populations Initiative Grant and Albert Schweitzer Fellowship. Dr. Tobin’s interest in working with kinship families sparked from personal experience, as she witnessed her both her grandparents and parents raise her cousin (their grandson/nephew).
Alison Parson is a Native of Ridgeville, SC. She is an author, founder, motivational speaker, talk show host, professional blogger, and a NAMI Certified Mental Health Advocate. She is also the current kinship caregiver to a 6-year-old girl and is a graduate of KinCarolina. Alison possesses a strong commitment to social equity and family empowerment. Over the years, she has worked extensively with families from underprivileged communities, providing advocacy & emotional support to ensure that all families feel seen, supported and capable of reaching their full potential.
References:
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- Carruthers, C. P., & Hood, C. D. (2007). Building a life of meaning through therapeutic recreation: The Leisure and Well-Being Model, Part I. Therapeutic Recreation Journal, 41(4), 276–297.