Preserving Family Connections through Kinship Care
It’s a sunny afternoon and the sounds of a sweet, bubbly preschooler playing outside fill what might normally be an air of silence - the cackling of joy and laughter that might not have been possible just a short time ago. “He’s my little buddy,” says Lisa Todd, who got a phone call in 2020 that her infant cousin Jayvonta needed a temporary safe place to stay. Family means everything to Lisa, so there was no hesitation. And fast forward four years, Jayvonta is now a permanent part of Lisa's immediate family. When children can no longer safely stay at home with their parents, Franklin County Children Services prioritizes finding family-like settings to place youth and, when possible, in kinship-related homes. This would include family relatives - grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, or adult siblings - or close family friends such as teachers and coaches, church members, or neighbors. By keeping children connected to their family or the neighborhoods they are accustomed to, kin