KinConnector Website Offers Resources for Kinship Caregivers

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) and Department of Aging launched www.KinConnector.org, a new resource designed to help kinship care families connect to services and supports that can help children and their caregivers.

Learn More

Grandparents raising grandchildren are among the most common type of kinship caregiver, but kinship care families also can include an aunt or uncle, adult sibling, or a non-relative caregiver such as a close family friend raising a child when their parents cannot care for them. Kinship care arrangements help maintain family bonds and reduce trauma experienced when children cannot be cared for by their own parents.

Kinship caregivers can visit the KinConnector website to find resources in their communities, learn about trainings and services available for kinship families, and find support groups and networks of other kinship care families and family care professionals.

KinConnector also runs a helpline that can be reached by calling 1.866.KIN.2111 (1.866.546.2111). The KinConnector helpline is staffed by knowledgeable, compassionate social service professionals prepared to help kinship care families understand and access resources that may be able to help them. The helpline is available from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday. The KinConnector helpline can support callers needing assisting in English and Spanish.

More information about KinConnector can be found at www.kinconnector.org.

For more information on resources available for kinship families and grandparents raising grandchildren, visit www.dhs.pa.gov.