Kinship Support Services

What We Do

Lincoln Families’ Kinship program provides supports to kin caregivers so they have the resources needed to raise their relative. Since 2001, our staff have addressed the unique needs of each caregiver and child, providing a variety of supports:

Family Coaching - Providing advocacy and referral for financial assistance, legal supports, mental health, emergency, and education services

Education and Skill Building - Offering programs including parenting and school advocacy to prepare and inform caregivers and youth

Youth Engagement - Providing children and teen activity groups, social and recreational outings, tutoring, and workshop events

Support Groups - Facilitating gatherings of caregivers to share joys and concerns, learn about resources, and support each other

Our Why

Children in foster care can face exposure to alcohol and other drugs, abuse, neglect and abandonment, violence in their homes and communities, trauma from separation from birth families, and frequent changes in foster care placement. These experiences place children at greater risk of developing physical, emotional, and behavioral problems that can lead to school failure, teen pregnancy, homelessness, unemployment, and incarceration. Research shows that living with relatives is better for children and benefits them in many ways. Of children who are not living with their biological parents, 75% of them are being raised by a relative outside of the formal foster care system. Such kin caregivers have little or no time to prepare for this new arrangement and face major barriers in accessing information, benefits, legal assistance, and services.

Contact

Chris Nguon
Associate Director of Community-Based Grant Funded Programs chrisnguon@lincolnfamilies.org 510.882.5882

Lizeth Venegas
Hayward & Bilingual
Case Manager
lizethvenegas@lincolnfamilies.org
510.273.4700, x2025