Dear Providers:

Please see the Child Welfare Services Manual Transmittal No. 2020-06 Child Welfare Policy Manual: Kinship. This policy is effective September 2020 and currently available on the Online Directives Information System (ODIS) at https://odis.dhs.ga.gov/General under manuals, Division of Family and Children Services and Child Welfare. Please direct any questions related to policy or practice through your regional Field Program Specialist to the Policy and Regulations Unit at PPPDUNIT@dhs.ga.gov. 

September is Kinship Care Month! Throughout this month we recognize the valuable role kinship caregivers play in caring for children whose parents are unable to do so. In its broadest sense, kinship care is any living arrangement in which relatives or fictive kin (e.g. family friends, godparents, etc. who have a pre-established bond with a child or family) assumes caregiver responsibilities for the child. Most kinship care arrangements are private, in that they occur without any involvement from the child welfare system. The new Kinship chapter of the DFCS Child Welfare Policy Manual supports a framework for prioritizing and working with kinship care arrangements to ensure they are safe, appropriate, and well supported.

Respectfully,

DFCS Policy & Regulations Unit