Kindred Spirits: Families Caring for Family

Sunday, April 13. 2:00pm-3:30pm. Fidalgo Room.

Description

For generations, families have been caring for relatives' children who cannot live with their birth parents for one reason or another – not out of necessity or obligation, but out of love and compassion for the children. Each child who is raised in a Kinship Family is truly a “seed of compassion.” In Washington and around the country, there has been strong support for elevating relative care as a preferred option to formal foster care. Coalitions and community collaborations have formed to add support and access to resources for Kinship Families. In this workshop you will hear from child welfare professionals and actual relative caregivers as they share of the progress elevating Kinship Care, and their personal experiences in raising children of their relatives.

Presenter Bios

Lynn Biggs, Moderator, Casey Family Program, Yakima

Lynn Sloan Biggs is currently the Senior Director of the Yakima Field Office for Casey Family Programs. She joined Casey in 1988. Lynn began her social work career in 1972 in Walla Walla Washington at Blue Mountain Action Council. Throughout her 36 years of experience in public and private child welfare, Lynn has provided or supervised services for children in the areas of foster and kinship care, guardianship, adoption, group care and family reunification. Currently she oversees direct services in the Yakima area and joins with various community partners to ensure that services to and outcomes for the community's most vulnerable children can be improved in alignment with Casey's 2020 strategies.  She also works in partnership with statewide systems improvement strategists for Washington State and has served on the Child Welfare League of America's Foster Care & Kinship Care Advisory Committees. Lynn graduated with a BS degree in Psychology from Washington State University and her Master of Social Work degree was obtained from Eastern Washington University.

Jenece Howe, Yakima parent

Jenece M. Howe is the Community Specialist for the Yakima Field Office for Casey Family Programs since 2001. She is an enrolled Member of the Yakama Nation and quarter Colville. She is a high school graduate of Chemawa Indian Boarding School (1987) and continued her education by completing her MSW at Walla Walla College in 2000. She gained years of experience working with Tribal Child Placing Agency as well as Public Agencies in providing advocacy  and services for children. Jenece has very close ties with Kinship Care as a child, as her grandparents played a vital role in her upbringing. She recently added a nephew to her home making it five children she and her husband of 16 years are raising. Jenece’s current position is to ensure the ability to work collaboratively with partnering with other agencies and individuals in varying positions from both private and public sectors in seeking a network for Kinship Caregivers. She enjoys building positive community relationships through the development to empower Kinship Caregivers and families. She is also a social worker who works directly with Kin Caregivers in providing services to the family to prevent the need for foster care.

 
Kristie Lund, Seattle parent

Kristie Lund, Case Assistant, Casey Family Programs, Seattle Field Office, is a Kinship Caregiver to her two grandchildren, Jasmin, age 11, and Anthony, five. Kristie is the coordinator of the Relatives as Parents Project in Kent, Washington, and has been a support group leader there for six years. She is one of the founding members of the Washington Kinship Oversight Committee and has represented kinship caregivers on many local and national committees including the King County Kinship Collaboration, the Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force, the National Kinship Expert Symposium and the National Grandparents Advisory Committee at Generations United. Kristie is employed by Casey Family Programs.