A Tradition of Caring: A Guide for Assessing Families for Kinship Care : Assessment Guide

This assessment guide is a tool for conducting family assessment in kinship care. It is a resource for agencies that wish to develop an effective assessment process that not only meets agency and legal requirements, but also helps and supports kinship families.

Topics addressed include:

• The role of assessment in kinship care, the unique aspects of kinship care assessment.
• The mutual assessment process and content in kinship care.
• Challenges in conducting assessments with kinship families.
• Ways to build relationships and provide support to kinship families during assessment.
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  Designed to be used with the Tradition of Caring group preparation process, it identifies the benefits of combining preparation with assessment and provides information on how to use the tools in the Tradition of Caring curriculum to facilitate a respectful, strengths-based assessment process. Child welfare agencies will find the Tradition of Caring curriculum and Guide for Assessing Families for Kinship Care useful tools in implementing a comprehensive program that meets the unique needs of kinship caregivers more effectively than preparation and assessment programs designed for foster care and adoption.