GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 32
grand families
Raising a relative's child
BY STEPHANIE HEMNESS
T
here are some people you meet
who you can tell were made for
their job. Lynn Urvina is one of
those people. She works as the Kinship
Navigator for Family Education and
Support Services, and she recently
won the Kinship Caregiver Award for
the 2018 National Casey Excellence for
Children Awards.
As a Kinship Navigator, Lynn
supports caregivers, often grandparents, but sometimes aunts,
uncles or older siblings raising
children whose biological parents
are otherwise unable to care for
them. She knows what its like to
be a kinship caregiver, because
she has raised her own 14-yearold granddaughter Tara from the
time she was 11 months old.
"One part of our story that's
different is that we didn't know
she was born until she was 11
months old," shares Lynn of her
granddaughter. "We started offering to watch her as much as we could. Even our older
daughter offered to watch her occasionally."
By the time Tara was a year old, she was living with
her grandparents fulltime. According to Lynn, grandparents get state support for raising grandkids only if they
32 GRAND
MAY JUNE 2018
"
"And for every one child in the foster
care system, there are eight children
being raised by a relative..."
are already low income. But there
is not the same level of support for
kinship caregivers as there is for
registered foster parents. And for
every one child in the foster care
system, there are eight children
being raised by a relative outside
of foster care, in what is called the
"informal system."
"Sometimes the kids literally
come with the clothes on their
back," says Lynn. "So that's hard
for someone to all of a sudden
think - I need to get them clothing, or they need school supplies,
all the things that families usually
build up over time." The Kinship
Program can assist with supplying
necessities, as well as purchasing
expensive items such as car seats
or bunk beds.
"I often see older folks who
should be spending their money
on medications, or keeping money
in their retirement account, and
they're not, because they're buying tennis shoes and
paying for their grandson's football fees," she shares. "I
try to help them realize that sometimes those fees can
be waived. But they don't always know to ask." So Lynn
is there to let them know there are ways for them to get
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GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018
Contents
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 1
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 2
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - Contents
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 4
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 5
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 6
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 7
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 8
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GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 35
GRAND Magazine - May/June 2018 - 36
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