Kinship Caregiving: Managing Relationships with the Child's Parents

Kinship Caregiving: Managing Relationships with the Child’s Parents

One of the hardest parts of being a kinship caregiver is navigating the relationship with the child’s birth parent. We talk with Dr. Joseph Crumbley, a social worker, family therapist and author of “An Overview of Kinship Care”.

In this episode, we cover:

Creating a Family listening sessions with kinship caregivers in rural counties.
What are some of the complicating factors in the relationship between kinship caregivers and the child’s parents?
Grandparents and other caregivers sometimes feel that the child’s parents will threaten them with taking the child away if they do something that the parent disapproves of.
How to not enable the child’s parent but still have a relationship.
How to set healthy boundaries for the caregiver’s and child’s best interest when you have years of experience not setting healthy boundaries?
How to handle others in the family who interfere with the boundaries you’ve established?
I don’t know if this is a question, but I really struggle with getting my kids opportunities to see their mom and siblings. All other siblings have been reunited, and I gather it’s painful for their mom to see the two that were adopted by us (she surrendered her rights). Although we live relatively close to them, we have only managed 2-3 visits a year, mostly because of long periods of no responses to my texts or last-minute cancellations of planned visits. Sometimes our adopted kids can’t even remember their siblings’ names and it just breaks my heart. I’d love for them to have a closer relationship, but I have only limited control.
How to handle the anger, shame, guilt you feel at the child’s parents?
How to support co-parenting when the child’s parent is still not in a healthy place?
How to support reunification?

For more information please refer to www.drcrumbley.com.