When state governments announce a dramatic drop in foster care entries, it is routinely celebrated as a major victory for child welfare reform. However, this statistical drop is often an illusion masking a deeper hidden kinship care crisis. Rather t…
Let's talk about kinship care policy reform. For a long time, the conversation around kinship care and child welfare has been about survival. It’s been about how to cope, how to accept, and how to quietly lead a household in crisis. If you are a …
Understanding legal rights & CPS challenges is often the single most critical step for grandparents and family members who step in to rescue a child in crisis. In Episode 128 of the Kinship Care Podcast, host Laura Brazan sits down with Dr. Jill Bry…
Welcome back to the podcast and our accompanying blog space. If you are a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or relative caregiver, you already know that raising a child who has experienced trauma is unlike traditional parenting. You have likely found yourse…
Subjective well-being data kinship caregivers is the missing link that transforms individual kinship caregiver struggles into undeniable evidence for systemic reform. By capturing the emotional, psychological, and financial realities of grandparents…
The neuroaffirming household. We’ve all been there. You’re sitting in gridlock traffic, or standing in the kitchen, and a sensory storm is brewing. In the backseat or the next room, one grandchild is trapped in a loop of repetitive vocal stimming…
Grandparents raising neurodivergent grandchildren often find themselves sitting in intimidating school meetings surrounded by paperwork that pathologizes their child. Discover how to translate pathologizing Individualized Education Program (IEP) lan…
Stepping into the second cradle means confronting sudden custody battles, mountains of state paperwork, and massive lifestyle disruptions. In the daily rush to stabilize children and manage trauma, many relatives forget to evaluate their own physi…
Therapeutic storytelling for kinship care transforms how traumatized children find their voice by shifting grandparents and relative caregivers from behavioral managers into external processors and scribes. By co-creating fictional stories without j…
When grandparents unexpectedly take on the role of primary caregiver, managing household expenses like rent, utilities, and school fees can quickly drain their financial and emotional reserves. Fortunately, dedicated gap-funding grants and Kinship C…
Chronic sleep deprivation in kinship care is an invisible crisis for many older adults raising their grandchildren. When grandparents step in to provide stability after family trauma, they frequently sacrifice their own rest, operating under the dan…
The Redlining Motherboard: Translating Trauma Science into a Living Room Sanctuary By Laura Brazan I have a confession: I spent yesterday afternoon watching my plants grow. I didn’t do it because I was ahead of schedule or because I was feeling p…
I sat at my kitchen table this morning, staring at a folder of school reports and case notes. My grandchildren didn’t just come to me with a suitcase of clothes; they arrived with a “backpack of labels.” Traumatized. Behind. Behaviorally challenge…
I sat at my computer this morning, the blue light reflecting off a stack of utility bills and a legal retainer agreement that made my stomach do somersaults. For months, I’ve felt like I was living on a deserted island. I’ve been trying to build a s…
Generativity in kinship care is the psychological drive to mentor and guide the next generation, a critical developmental milestone that keeps the brain cognitively and emotionally agile. For kinship caregivers, embracing this role as a mentor rathe…
When raising a grandchild, every dollar counts, and navigating the grocery store on a fixed income is already a massive balancing act. Many kinship caregivers unknowingly purchase inexpensive vegetable and canola oils believing they are making a hea…
I have a confession to make: I’ve been buying canola oil for years. I thought I was making a healthy, budget-conscious choice for my family. But after sitting down with Dr. Jeffrey Knight, an expert in natural health and cellular healing, I real…
I'm a kinship caregiver. I stood in front of my hallway mirror this morning, tracing the lines around my eyes that weren’t there four years ago. I felt that heavy, familiar pull—the one that says, “You’re too old for this.” My knees ache from the 3:…
In the life of kinship caregivers health is often the first asset to be sacrificed. We focus so much on the children’s stability that we ignore our own chronic pain, our changing health, and the complicated ways we use food to cope with the mid…
"Just forgive and move on." This episode is about how to forgive the unforgiveable. If you are a grandparent raising grandchildren, you’ve likely heard this hollow platitude a dozen times. It’s often used by people who haven't stood in the wreckage…
This episode is about kinship caregiver burnout. I sat in my kitchen this morning, and the coffee wasn't hot enough. The dog was barking at a leaf, and my grandson was moving at a pace I can only describe as "geologic." In that moment, I wasn't jus…
I’ll admit it—I’ve been using YouTube as a nighttime babysitter. This episode is about solving kinship care sleep struggles. When you’re an exhausted grandmother raising a six-year-old and a ten-year-old, you reach for whatever tool stops the c…
Do you have kinship care teenagers? What do you do when the child you fought so hard to protect suddenly starts pushing you away? When the "I love yous" are replaced by eye rolls and the silence feels deafening? For many of us in the kinship care c…
I have to tell you, seeing Mary Hels-Jager smile today is a completely different experience than our last conversation. In our first talk (Episode 30), she was on pins and needles, navigating a legal minefield. Today? She has permanent authority. Th…