Articles
Healing from Trauma/Neglect/Abuse
Outdoor Activities with Your Relative Child To Build Crucial Skills
Across the state, Spring is springing up everywhere! Sending the kids outside to play relieves many grandparents and family caregivers. After all, many of us would agree that Winter means too much time inside for our kids, on screens, in their rooms, or getting on...
Practical Tips for Navigate the Tween and Teen Years with Your Relative Child
The tween and teen years can get a bad rap – folks assume an adolescent will be rebellious, acting out, or stuck behind a screen with a sullen look on their face. While sometimes those things are true, it’s also true that the teen years can be rich with rewarding...
Welcoming a New Child to Your Home
When you agree to open your home to a relative child, you are agreeing to so much more than providing a clean, safe bed and regular meals. You are agreeing to offer them an emotionally and physically safe place to heal from the challenges they encountered before...
Impacts of Prenatal Exposure to Alcohol and Drugs
Adapting Your Parenting for a Child with Prenatal Substance Exposure
Raising a grandchild or other loved one with prenatal exposure to alcohol or drugs can be a frustrating and overwhelming challenge. You might be biased, but your grandchild has incredible strengths and talents. However, figuring out how to unlock those and set this...
Tips for Helping a Baby Cope with Withdrawal from Opiates
Your new grandbaby is here, and they are beautiful. But the doctors just informed you that this baby will have a rough few weeks ahead. Their little body is going through withdrawal from exposure to opiates during pregnancy. It's normal to feel scared for this baby's...
Quick Tips to Help Save Your Sanity When Raising Kids with Prenatal Exposure
Is your grandchild (or other relative) showing signs of exposure to drugs or alcohol during pregnancy? Are their homework and school projects disorganized and always late? Do they need directions repeated frequently and slowly? Are their emotions and physical activity...
Challenging Behaviors
When a Student Refuses to Comply with School Supports – Part 1
When a child struggles in school, they often receive special support and services through an IEP (individualized educational plan) or 505 plan. These accommodations and resources are unique to this child's learning style or struggles. They can be a combination of...
Potty Training a Child Who Had Prenatal Substance Exposure
Potty training your young grandchild, niece, or nephew is a huge milestone in gaining independence for you all. Grandparents and relative caregivers may feel overwhelmed with where to start and how long it will take. Every child is different, and there is a wide range...
Helping Kids with ADHD Boost Their Mental Health
Many of the children you are raising have experienced painful losses or abuse. Others were exposed during pregnancy to alcohol or drugs. Still, others have both of those challenges in their history and are living with the impacts today. Those impacts may show up in...
ADHD
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Disrupting Birth Order
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Helping A Child Heal from Sexual Abuse
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School Issues for Foster & Kinship Kids
Tips to Set Up Your Grandchild for Success in School
Your grandchild's (or niece's or nephew's) school experience will likely be very different from yours in some ways and similar in others. Some of us have happy school memories, like a favorite teacher, childhood best friend, or a fun field trip. Others have unhappy...
Technology/Internet and Our Kids
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Self-Care for Kinship and Foster Parents
7 Signs of Caregiver Burnout and What to Do About It
Are you helping or supporting your extended family? Are you raising a grandchild, niece, or family friend while the child's parents get help? If so, you might be at risk for caregiver burnout. Caring for a child with significant learning challenges, problematic...
Considering Respite Care When Caring for Your Relative’s Child
Raising a child who has experienced trauma is demanding, intensive work. You are thankful to offer your home as a safe landing place for this child. However, they have challenging behaviors, sleep disruptions, or other struggles. You know you need a break but aren't...
Healthy Habits of Self-Care to Build Resilience
When raising a loved one's child, it's easy to lose yourself in this child's needs and forget to care well for yourself. You get focused on helping your grandchild succeed in school. You move things around your calendar to ensure they continue with sports or therapy....
Relationship with Child’s Parent
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Working Together For the Good of the Child In Your Care
Enjoying the Holidays When Raising a Relative’s Child
The holiday season is in full swing, with messages of joy, family togetherness, and bright, colorful celebrations of many different cultures and faith traditions. When raising a grandchild, nephew, or other relative child, the holiday season can be pretty stressful to...
Why Raising Your Grandchild Matters
When raising your grandchild or another loved one's child, it's easy to get lost in the weight of daily work. You are overseeing homework, monitoring screen time, holding the reins of this child’s daily schedule, and much more. However, sometimes, it helps to remember...
Building Healthy Communication with Your Tween and Teen Grandchild
It's a heavy responsibility to raise a young person who comes to your home after losing their parents or experiencing abuse and neglect. You want them to find healing and learn life skills to carry them into adulthood. You want to teach them skills to set them up for...
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This website was supported with funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families’ Children’s Bureau through the Improving Child Welfare Through Investing in Family grant #HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CW-1921. The purpose of this grant is to provide an array of kinship preparation services and ongoing kinship supports, and provide shared parenting to build trusting relationships between all out-of-home caregivers and parents of children/youth in foster care to ensure parents and families remain actively involved in normal child-rearing activities.
This website is supported by Grant Number 90CW1149 (HHS-2021-ACF-ACYF-CW-1921) from the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families, a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Neither the Administration for Children and Families nor any of its components operate, control, are responsible for, or necessarily endorse this website (including, without limitation, its content, technical infrastructure, and policies, and any services or tools provided). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Administration for Children and Families and the Children’s Bureau.