Kids n' Kin

According to the 2000 Census, there are over 64,000 children being raised by a relative caregiver in the city of Philadelphia . Caregiver families face unique emotional, physical, and financial challenges, and are often the last safety net before anonymous placements in foster care. PSSC developed the Kids n' Kin program in 1992 to serve and stabilize these families so that these children can grow up in safe and loving homes.

All Kids n' Kin services focus on three goals:

1) Promoting the safety and stability of children living with relative caregivers

2) Identifying and solidifying a family home for children living with relatives

3) Addressing the needs of family members caring for relative children.

These goals are accomplished through home-based family support services, family therapy, legal assistance (through collaboration with the Support Center for Child Advocates ), therapeutic groups for children with incarcerated parents, and relative caregiver workshops.

Many of the children Kids n' Kin serves live with caregivers because their mothers are incarcerated. Kids n' Kin offers bi-monthly bus trips to the women's correctional facility at Muncy Correctional Facility, accompanied by PSSC social workers and the clinical supervisor.

Kids n' Kin recently created the Kids n' Kin Family Project. Family Project works with mothers being released from jail who hope to reunify with children living with relatives. These families receive intense case management, connections to substance abuse programs, housing resources, job training, and domestic abuse counseling.

83% of the high-risk children served by PSSC from 1996 through 200 remained out of the foster care system. The individual [stories, triumphs, and accomplishments] also demonstrate less tangible, yet remarkable, qualitative outcomes for children, their relative caregivers and parents.

In 2005-2006, Kids n' Kin served more than 600 children and 340 families, an increase of 50% more families and 30% more children than the year before.