For Immediate Release
September 19, 2024
Contact: Gabriel Sanchez
(213) 842-4846
New Report Exposes Overwhelming Educational Barriers Faced by Kinship and Grandfamilies
Generations United’s “State of Grandfamilies and Kinship Care” Report Calls for Urgent Reforms to Bridge Gaps in Education for Millions of Children
WASHINGTON D.C. (September 19, 2024) – Generations United’s 2024 “State of Grandfamilies and Kinship Care” report uncovers overwhelming barriers to education faced by about 2.5 million children being raised in grandfamilies. These children, while usually members of the same family, often lack a formal, legal connection to their caregiver. Family members raising these children are stuck in a “gray area” due to circumstances beyond their control. While doing their best, these caregivers face unique and systemic hurdles that limit their access to essential services, resources, and opportunities.
“All children deserve to thrive. Our focus is on children being raised in grandfamilies, that is, by a loving relative such as a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or even a close family friend,” said Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United. “Often lacking a formal, legal designation with these caregivers, these children may be missing out through no fault of their own, disconnecting them and their families from essential services, access to resources, and even access to health care and education.”
The report brings to life the challenges faced by kinship families across the nation. Nafeis Robinson, from Philadelphia, PA, has been raising his siblings since he was 17 and stresses that public schools often fail to provide necessary support. Laurie Tapozada of Rhode Island, who adopted her grandson, fights to secure essential educational resources for other families like hers that are facing legal barriers and communication issues with schools. In Washington, DC, Keonte Jones, who overcame ADHD with his grandmother’s support, underscores the need for trauma-informed school programs. Marisa VanZile, an adoptive mother from Michigan who initially raised her son as a kinship caregiver before formally adopting him at age two, has taken on the role of primary caregiver and advocate, providing essential support for his multiple disabilities and educational challenges. She highlights the critical need for stronger school-family partnerships.
“Every child deserves a learning environment that understands and supports their unique needs, especially those in kinship and grandfamilies,” said Dr. Michael Robert, Superintendent of the Osborn School District in Phoenix, Arizona. “These caregivers provide the love, stability, and deep understanding of a child’s history that no one else can offer, but they can’t do it alone. Our schools must be more than places of learning; they must be community hubs where families are connected to essential services, behavioral health support, and compassionate educators who are dedicated to equity and joyful learning. Our policies need to reflect that commitment, ensuring that every child, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to succeed.”
When children in kinship and grandfamilies get the support they need, they thrive. Compared to children being raised in foster care by non-relatives, children in kinship families have fewer school changes, better attendance, and lower rates of repeating a grade. Yet kinship families routinely face barriers to key educational supports
Key Findings from the 2024 Report Include:
- Exclusion from Critical Services: Many grandfamily children face legal and systemic obstacles that hinder school enrollment, special education support, and participation in school activities.
- Impact of Trauma on Learning: Nearly all children in grandfamilies have experienced trauma before coming into their relative’s care, leading to increased behavioral challenges and learning difficulties.
- Inequitable Access to Resources: Children in these families often lack access to technology, mental health services, and other essential resources, exacerbating their educational challenges.
Recommendations for Action:
The report calls for comprehensive strategies to support kinship and grandfamilies by addressing educational and resource inequities:
Policy Recommendations:
- Information Distribution: Require schools to create and implement plans to regularly share information about available services for kinship families during enrollment and through ongoing outreach.
- Kinship Navigator Programs: Support the expansion and sustained funding of kinship navigator programs that connect caregivers to public benefits, legal services, and mental health support. Federal funding should be allocated to help states, tribes, and community organizations develop and evaluate these programs based on evidence-based standards.
- Financial and Basic Needs Support: Advocate for broader investments in equitable supports for kinship families, including a caregivers’ tax credit, enhanced access to programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), foster care maintenance payments, housing, nutrition assistance, healthcare, respite care, childcare, and transportation.
- Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: Continue funding the national technical assistance center that helps improve cross-system collaboration and support services for kinship/grandfamilies, fostering greater coordination between agencies.
Research on Kinship/Grandfamilies Educational Outcomes: Support a national research study of educational outcomes for children in kinship/grandfamilies, including collecting data that can be disaggregated by race and socio-economic status.
Practice Recommendations:
- Partnerships with Schools: Encourage kinship navigator programs to build strong relationships with schools to facilitate referrals and ensure both caregivers and schools are informed about laws and policies related to educational access.
- Title I Fund Allocation: Encourage Title I schools (those with high poverty rates) to engage kinship families in decision-making processes about how federal and local funding should be used to support tailored services.
- Schools as Support Hubs: Position schools as central hubs for providing wraparound services, ensuring all children, including those in kinship care, arrive at school prepared to learn and thrive.
The report highlights initiatives like Kinship Caregivers Connect (KCC) in Columbus, Ohio, which provides critical peer support, educational resources, and advocacy training for kinship caregivers. Kentucky’s Family Resource Centers serve as comprehensive hubs located in the schools offering services like tutoring, respite care, and legal assistance, significantly improving educational outcomes statewide. Additionally, the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network: A National Technical Assistance Center fosters cross-system collaboration and resources nationwide to help government agencies and non-profit organizations improve supports and services to the families
These programs exemplify how scaling up community-driven, wraparound support and kinship navigator initiatives can effectively implement the report’s policy and practice recommendations across the nation.
Read the report. Explore a detailed breakdown of the more than 2 million grandparents responsible for raising their grandchildren, and review data demonstrating that children in grandfamilies and kinship care outperform those in foster care with non-kin academically.
“Our goal with this report is to shed light on the issues these families face and provide decision-makers with the best information possible,” concluded Butts. “We want to create realistic, scalable policies and practices that recognize the value of these kinship relationships in much the same way a child views their kin as their caregiver.”
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About Generations United
For more than three decades, Generations United’s mission has been to improve the lives of children, youth, and older adults through intergenerational collaboration, public policies, and programs for the enduring benefit of all. We have been the catalyst for policies and practices stimulating cooperation and collaboration among generations, evoking the vibrancy, energy, and sheer productivity that result when people of all ages come together. Critical to our mission, Generations United has two initiatives to support kinship families: its long-standing National Center on Grandfamilies, and the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network, which is the first-ever federally supported national technical assistance center on the families, run in cooperation with the U.S. Administration for Community Living. Learn more at www.gu.org and www.gksnetwork.org.
About the State of Grandfamilies Reports
For the past decade, Generations United has researched and authored national reports focusing on the unique challenge grandfamilies and kinship families face. Most recently, Generations United’s 2023 report, “Building Resilience: Supporting Grandfamilies’ Mental Health and Wellness,” highlighted the mental health challenges faced by these families due to compounded trauma and limited access to wellness resources. Their 2022 report, “Together at the Table,” focused on food insecurity and economic hardships, demonstrating how systemic inequities prevent grandfamilies from accessing basic needs. Both reports have laid the groundwork for understanding the unique obstacles these families face and advocated for policy changes to provide better support. More resources and reports can be found here.
Stories of Grandfamilies Featured in the 2024 Report
- Nafeis Robinson, Philadelphia: At 26, Nafeis has been raising his three younger siblings since he was 17. Despite the struggles, he finds kinship foster care supportive, especially with financial assistance. He emphasizes the lack of proactive support from public schools, saying, “Public schools lack on getting kids that extra help that they need.”
- Laurie Tapozada, Rhode Island: Laurie, who adopted her nine-year-old grandson, finds navigating the school system challenging due to a lack of legal recognition for kinship caregivers. “IEPs and 504s call for resources they might not have so it really is a battle to get them in place for many families.”
- Keonte Jones, Washington, DC: Keonte, who has ADHD, credits his grandmother’s unwavering support and the specialized education programs he accessed for helping him thrive academically. “My grandma…she’s been on my team 100% every step of the way…now I’m going to college in Alaska.”
- Iona Jenkins, South Carolina: Iona, who is raising her granddaughter with complex medical needs, highlights ongoing trauma and the importance of advocacy. “She’s a beautiful, thoughtful, caring child, and her differences impact her learning. I love her and will advocate for her because she needs someone to do that for her.”
- Marisa VanZile, Michigan: Marisa, an adoptive mother from Michigan who initially raised her son as a kinship caregiver, they were initially cousins, before formally adopting him at age two, raising her son with multiple disabilities, struggles with a lack of respect and partnership from schools. She emphasizes, “The school is not supposed to be the enemy; they are supposed to be partners…when we get upset it is justifiable: these are our children.”