Title: FCS Supports Kinship Families

Relevance: More than 8 million children in the United States are being raised by relatives. In Kentucky, 125,706 children live in homes where a family member—often a grandparent or other relative—is the head of household. This places Kentucky among the states with the highest kinship care populations. As the number of kinship families has grown, so have their needs for financial stability, emotional support, and access to educational and behavioral resources.

Response: To strengthen kinship families across the state, the Family and Consumer Sciences (FCS) Extension at the University of Kentucky continues to equip service providers and caregivers with tools for success. Through its Family and Advocacy Workgroup, FCS promotes education, connection, and empowerment.

As part of this mission, FCS Parenting and Child Development Senior Specialist Dr. David Weisenhorn, trained 35 service providers statewide in the Parenting A Second Time Around (PASTA) curriculum.  In addition, Dr. Weisenhorn trained five new FCS agents who also plan to host monthly support groups where caregivers can access educational content, community resources, and peer support.

Results: In the 2024-25 fiscal year, three county extension offices hosted kinship focused workshops serving 30 families. Participants reported gaining helpful parenting strategies, as well as meaningful connections to local services and to one another. Importantly, every participant indicated they had received support from local organizations, and, in turn, provided encouragement and assistance to another kinship caregiver in their community.

Public Value Statement: When you support Extension family programing, kinship families gain the knowledge, resources, and relationships they need, not only to support themselves, but to lift up others in their communities.