Nearly 35,000 children in San Antonio, Texas, are being raised by their grandparents or other family members. To help relatives care for children when their birth parents can’t, a wide-ranging coalition of public and private agencies has come together to form the San Antonio Kinship Care Collaborative.
In addition to staff from the San Antonio field office of Casey Family Programs, participants range from a county judge to kinship caregivers to a customer service representative at the Texas Department of Human Services. Resources are available whether or not kinship families have legal guardianship.
Telephone “warm” line
Since its start in 2002, the coalition has set up a telephone “warm” line. Staffed by bilingual workers at the Texas Department of Human Services, it directs kinship families to services for themselves or the children they care for.
Easy-to-use resource directory
Another result of the collaboration is a resource directory to help kinship caregivers understand and tap into the patchwork quilt of available services. The directory lets kinship families know, for example:
- They may be eligible for food stamps now that there are extra mouths to feed.
- How to sign children up for Medicaid and other services even when caregivers themselves do not qualify.
Better results and lower costs
Research indicates that kinship care helps children keep their ties to family and community and lessens the trauma of separation from birth parents.
It also saves money. Providing financial aid, support groups, training, and other services can make it feasible for extended families to care for their young relatives—and avoid placing them in foster care at considerably higher cost to the state.
Casey’s partners include government agencies, nonprofit social service agencies, a food bank, an adoption agency, and senior citizen groups.
Families interested in services can contact Gary Urdiales at 210.337.3438.