Episode 17: Ms. Genia, Keith Lowhorne, and Ana Beltran on Kinship vs. Guardianship

Across the U.S., more than 2.7 million children are growing up in grandfamilies — families in which grandparents, other adult family members, or close family friends are raising children.

Generations United, with support from the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, created a brief and national comparison chart, Adoption and Guardianship for Children in Kinship Foster Care, which focuses on adoption and guardianship for children in kinship foster care, so that these children can exit foster care into permanent families.

In this episode, Ana Beltran, co-director of the National Center on Grandfamilies, is joined by Generations United's GRAND Voice Network Members Ms. Genia LaRese Newkirk and Mr. Keith Lowhorne.

Ms. Newkirk took guardianship of her niece, Nadia, after becoming licensed as a foster parent.  Ms. Newkirk had never met Nadia before and didn’t know about her.  They were not offered North Carolina’s Guardianship Assistance Program because the state limits their program to children age 14 and older, and Nadia is about 8 years old.

Mr. Lowhorne, with his wife, adopted three grandchildren from foster care in Alabama:  Kayren, about age 7; Kaiser, about age 6; and Harper about age 4.

Ms. Newkirk and Mr. Lowhorne talk about the options offered and not offered to them when they decided to keep the children in their lives out of the foster care system.

Ana offers resources for families in this situation.

Show resources

• Adoption and Guardianship for Children in Kinship Foster Care: https://www.gu.org/resources/adoption-and-guardianship-for-children-in-kinship-foster-care/
  
  
• Generations United: www.gu.org
  
  
• The National Center on Grandfamilies: www.grandfamilies.org 

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