KEEP Connecting Kin

The current study provides a unique opportunity to conduct a summative evaluation of the KEEP Connecting Kin (KEEP-CK) program by leveraging extant relationships with Oregon's Child Welfare System (CWS), Self-Sufficiency Program (SSP), and our community partners to address the needs of informal kinship families and the youth in their care. Specifically, a randomized "services-as-usual" (SAU) waitlist control design plus qualitative methods will be used to evaluate the immediate (post-intervention) and sustained (10 month) impacts of the KEEP-CK program on child, adult, and service utilization outcomes, and prevention of entry into the CWS.

In the 2022 Oregon census, it was estimated that for every child placed in kinship foster care, there are 14 children being raised by kin outside of the child welfare system (CWS), with \~37,000 children being raised by kin and \~17,000 of those by grandparents. Kin caregivers, in particular those who are informal or voluntary, have fewer supports compared to non-relative (foster) caregivers and kin caregivers who are licensed by the CWS. Kin families are far less likely to access and utilize services in multiple systems. Thus, there is a great need to provide kin families with resources and keep youth who are living in kinship care out of the CWS. "Keeping Parents Supported and Trained" (KEEP) was initially developed to focus on foster and kinship families involved in the CWS. In three prior NIH-funded randomized controlled trials, KEEP has shown positive impacts on youth and parent outcomes, and placement stability. KEEP has been scaled-up statewide in Oregon for CWS-involved families. The current study will focus on informal kinship care, thereby adding to an emerging body of evidence on the benefits of providing enhanced parenting and peer support to families by scaling-out the KEEP program to serve kin families outside of the CWS. This research builds on an initial study, "KEEP Connecting Kin" (KEEP-CK), where KEEP was adapted for informal kin, currently underway with participant recruitment ending in October 2023. The proposed study (KEEP-CK#2) leverages our on-going relationships with state leadership in the CWS and SSP, and our community partners delivering KEEP-CK in Study #1 statewide in Oregon. In Study #2, a randomized "services-as-usual" (SAU) waitlist control design plus qualitative methods will be used to conduct a summative evaluation of the KEEP-CK program by recruiting N = 192 kinship families to examine the immediate (post-intervention) and sustained (10 month) impacts of the program on child, adult, and service utilization outcomes and prevention of entry into the CWS. Research questions include: Aim 1 (impact on child and adult outcomes): The KEEP-CK program is posited to improve child and adult outcomes at the end of the intervention, and such effects are posited to be sustained at 6 months after the end of the intervention (10 months post baseline), compared to those who received SAU. Targeted child outcomes include (a) child well-being (i.e., behavioral and emotional functioning, including child internalizing and externalizing behaviors) and (b) child permanency (i.e., placement stability and permanency of placements). Targeted adult outcomes include (c) parenting practices and (d) parent/caregiver stress. Aim 2 (impact on use of services): The KEEP-CK program is posited to increase parents' access to and use of services from multiple systems (e.g., Oregon Kinship Navigator, financial, educational, mental health, medical, legal) at post-intervention and follow-up compared to those who received SAU. Aim 3 (impact on prevention of entry into the CWS): The KEEP-CK program is posited to reduce the likelihood that youth who are living in kinship care enter into the CWS by the 10-month follow-up assessment, compared to youth whose kinship caregivers received SAU. Aim 4 (parent and youth perspectives): Qualitative methods will be used to evaluate families' satisfaction with and perspectives on the impact of KEEP-CK on child and adult outcomes.