A minimum of 500 youth age out of foster care each year without a permanent connection; most of these youth are African American and Latinx. The Adoptive and Foster Family of New York has been exploring possible solutions that remedy this problem with a potentially benefit other children in foster care as well as their biological families:
The expansion of New York State KinGap eligibility as define to include situations where older youth are unable to be adopted, yet are in dnager of aging out of the foster care system without any family permanency.
The removal of a child from their birth parent is a traumatic event for both the child and the parent. In order to provide the child with a familiar environment Kinship care allows for grandparents, other relatives, and even family friends who had a previous relationship with the child, to care for the child until they can be returned safely to their birth parents. Presently, there is a gap KinGap eligibility as it relates to foster parents who cannot be designated as kin unless they had a relationship with the child before placement in foster care. This does not consider the relationship that develops post-placement between a child and their “stranger” foster parent.
If it is deemed unsafe or not in a child’s best interested to be returned to their birth parents, Kinship Legal Guardianship, or KLG, is a court-ordered plan for placing a child permanently in the care of someone with close ties to his/her biological family. It supports the State’s effort to expedite permanency for children and youth for whom reunification and adoption have been ruled out. Older youth who have survived multiple placements over many years are not more likely to be connected to their neighbor from 10 years ago than their foster parent of the past 12 months. The proposed change allows a child to become a permanent member of a new community that has already shown that they are willing to take on that responsibility.
Would Expanded KinGap Help Your Family?
If you are a foster parent, please let us know if having an option of Legal Guardianship might have provided an opportunity for family permanency for the children in your care. It can be a current or former placement. This information will be used as examples of the need for this expanded definition of KinGap eligibility in New York State.
