June Program Agenda

Dr. Yolanda R. Green, received her BASW from Southern University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, her M.S.W. from U.S.C. and her Ph. D. from the School of Public Affairs at U.C.L.A.  She has worked in the child welfare arena in many capacities including as an adoption’s worker, therapist, supervisor and trainer.  Her research focuses on multigenerational families, kinship foster care, and immigrant families in the public child welfare system.  She has been recognized nationally by leading child welfare researchers for her innovative research on birth parent involvement in kinship families. Dr. Green was recently invited by the Child Welfare League of America to attend its national Kinship Care Summit to make recommendations on kinship care research, practice, and policy issues.  She is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work, California State University, Long Beach, teaching social work practice, human behavior in the social environment and child welfare courses.  Currently she is the Principal Investigator, for the Encore Parenting Project, a multi-year project funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Family Connections Discretionary Grant.  As Principal Investigator, Dr. Green is responsible for conducting evaluation research on the efficacy of the Project.

Angelica Leyva, MSW Candidate, California State University, Long Beach, is employed by the Encore Parenting Project as a Kinship Navigator. As a Navigator, Ms. Leyva provides intensive services to relative caregivers.  She is also a support group leader for the Grandparent as Parents (G.A.P.) program.

For additional information on the Encore Parenting Project please refer to the website: www.encoreparenting.net

Overview
Kinship care refers to relatives providing full-time care for children whose parents are unable to care for them.  According to the Child Welfare League of America (2008) in California there are over 600,000 children living in grandparent headed households with another 300,000 living with other relatives.  It is estimated that in Los Angeles there are over 30,000 grandparents caring for their grandchildren.  Kinship care often occurs due to a family crisis.  As a result, kinship caregivers have multiple and complex needs and may experience various barriers to receiving social services (Burnette, 1997; Gerard, Landry-Meyer & Role, 2006).

This presentation will describe the Encore Parenting Project, an innovative, evidence-based practice program designed to meet the needs of kinship families in Los Angeles County.  The primary goals of the Project are to empower kinship caregivers to access and utilize needed resources and to reduce the number of foster care entries for children in kinship families.   How Kinship Navigators work to ensure the safety, well-being and permanency of children in kinship care will be discussed and research findings describing the needs experienced by relative caregivers will be presented.