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Kinship Care Is A Family Affair

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By LENORA LAKE

Tribune correspondent

Published: September 3, 2008

USF CAMPUS - As a single mother with two girls, ages 9 and 14, Keysha Sirmons, then 33, suddenly found herself with a new baby.

Ty'Shawn Williams, now 15 months old, wasn't Sirmons' child. He was born to Sirmons' 14-year-old daughter, but suddenly he was Sirmons' to raise.

Thus, Ty'Shawn joined about 345,000 other children in Florida in kinship care, being raised by a relative or other close caregiver.

The baby's mother, Tatiyana Thompson, now 16 and a student at Middleton High School, gave legal custody of him to Sirmons.

She did so, Sirmons said, "because she knew she was a baby herself. She didn't know what she was doing with him, and she would be getting frustrated."

Sirmons and Ty'Shawn are receiving services through the Florida Kinship Center, which supports kinship caregivers and the children they are raising. Based at the University of South Florida, the center is celebrating its 10th anniversary this week with a conference Thursday.

Xonjenese Jacobs coordinates the center's Kinship Navigator Program, which helps caregivers weave their way through services offered by government agencies and nonprofit organizations.

"You don't have to be a blood relative," Jacobs said. "Kinship care is that you see that child as family. We don't have a lot of guidelines; it is for any child you are caring for that you feel you are related to."

Foster children are not eligible, as they are served by other agencies, she said.

Children are taken into kinship care for various reasons, such as the parents being too young to care for them, death, abuse, abandonment or incarceration.

The families providing kinship care transcend racial and financial lines, said Danielle Klendworth, who serves as the Kin as Teachers coordinator. The program assists families with children up to 5 years old.

Only about nine in 100 children in kinship care return to their biological parent or parents, Klendworth said.

Without kinship care, many of these children would end up in foster care, Jacobs said, adding that studies have shown that kinship care usually is better for them.

The Kinship Center's goal is stable, happier families for the children in the care - and for the caregiver. Kinship caregivers often are angry and overwhelmed, Klendworth said.

Caregivers often haven't had small children living in their home for many years. They may be retired and living in an age-restricted community. Some have medical issues. Some are on fixed retirement income; some are still working and have to arrange day care for the child. Some are enjoying life with friends who are in the same age group and do not have grandchildren. Others may be taking care of elderly parents.

"Then there are the emotional issues that come along with these kids because of abuse or other factors, and the grandparents often haven't raised kids in 20 years," Klendworth said.

The Kinship Center offers the statewide Warmline phone line, through which kinship caregivers can receive advice and emotional support. Twelve counties, including Hillsborough, also have in-home services or support groups.

The center operates on a budget of about $1 million a year. Of that, $400,000 is from the state and $349,000 from the Children's Board of Hillsborough County. The rest is from grants from the West Central Florida Area Agency on Aging, the Southwest Florida Area Agency on Aging and donations.

Other programs offered by the center are the Kinship Care Connection, which works in conjunction with the Hillsborough County School District to provide counseling and tutoring; Kinship Partners, which provides in-home visits and support groups; and the Legal Hotline, through which volunteer lawyers assist families.

Klendworth said one of the biggest issues for the Legal Hotline is helping caregivers get "formal" custody. Often, a biological parent will just leave the child and say, "You take care of him." That is informal custody and the caregiver cannot enroll the child in school or get medical and mental health services for the child, Klendworth said

"Custody is a big, big, big concern. The caregiver doesn't want to cause discord within the family," Klendworth said.

Klendworth works closely with Sirmons in her role taking care of Ty'Shawn. Klendworth visits every two weeks.

The Kin as Teachers program is designed to help grandparents or other caregivers understand child development. The early intervention is designed to help them become school-ready.

Kin as Teachers recently won the Losos Prize for Excellence from the Parents as Teachers National Center, to be presented at Thursday's conference. The $2,500 prize will be used to assist support groups for families.

On a recent visit to Sirmon's East Tampa home, Klendworth discussed "parallel talk" with Sirmons. Play is combined with repeating words as a way to build vocabulary. Ty'Shawn played with a toy farmhouse and Klendworth repeated "cow" and "moo" several times. Sirmons watched a DVD from Klendworth on a portable player, while Ty'Shawn looked at books, one of which Klendworth left with the family.

Klendworth also asked Simrons about her health, church activities and returning to work as a hairstylist.

Sirmons said Klendworth has been a blessing to her because she was under so much stress at first that she had medical problems and was hospitalized.

"At least I have someone I can vent to. She got me in touch with a psychiatrist and I got medication," Sirmons recalled. "I thought I was losing my mind."

She added: "I think at first I cried more than I talked. I was so stressed, so depressed, but now I laugh."

Klendworth also was able to provide bus passes for Sirmons, who doesn't own a car, to visit the doctor. She is looking for other services, as family expenses are higher with the baby. The father, who was 20 years old when Ty'Shawn was born, pays child support.

Kin as Teachers also offers group meetings with discussions about starting family traditions and discipline. Families participate in activities such as picnics in parks, visits to the Tampa Electric Co. Manatee Viewing Area and a grandparents luncheon. A holiday assistance program brings food and gifts, donated by churches and organizations, to the families.

The Kinship Center staff of 14 is supplemented by USF School of Social Work interns, who shadow the social workers, assist with hands-on activities and help coordinate events.

Klendworth said: "One of the best things we do is to introduce families to each other. It is a support system, networking and a way of connecting with others."

MAKING CONTACT

To reach the Florida Kinship Center, call (813) 974-1328 or the Warmline at 1-800-640-6444. The Web site is www .flkin.org.

Tribune correspondent Lenora Lake can be reached at (813) 865-4851 or llake@tampatrib.com.

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