Haven Counseling Center began operating Kinship Support Services Program (KSSP) in the spring of 2008. It is funded by a grant from the Department of Social Services to provide support to people who are raising the children of family and friends. It was created to help keep children who are not able to live with their parents in a home with someone they know and out of the court dependency system.
See our Calender of EVENTS
click on the calendar for the month of March. Note: Make sure your pop up blocker is off.
Services include:
* Case management
* Phone support
* Information and referral
* Support groups
* Individual counseling for adults
* Children parent/caregiver training
* Tutoring and mentoring for children
* Activities for children and families
* Volunteer program.
Kinship Foster Training Schedule
More than one third of the 3,000 children in court dependency served by county Child Protective Services are being raised by family and friends. Many do not receive compensation and the children they are raising do not qualify for the same level of support as children who are dependents of the court. Until recently they have been left alone to cope with raising children
Our office is at 316 H Street, across the street from an office Haven has operated for several years. Services are free and include support groups for adults, counseling for adults and children, tutoring, activities for children and families, referral and case management. There are no income or age requirements for our programs.
If you are in this situation or know someone who is, please call the Kinship Support Services Center at
(661) 377-0377
or visit us in person at
316 "H" Street
Bakersfield, CA 93304
FACTS
According to the DHS website there are over 2,900 children in the dependency system in Kern County. Of those children in care during 2005, 37.7 percent were placed predominately in foster care with extended family. There are also families who are unofficially raising children of family members and friends.
In the latest census, there were over 9,000 households in Kern County with children under 18 that were headed by adults over 60. The average relative caregiver is a single female about 60 years old.
· There are over 2,900 children in the dependency system according to the Department of Human Services.
· The US Census Bureau defines the average relative caregiver in Kern County as being a single female about 60 years old.
· Of the 4,754 children in Kern County with substantiated abuse during 2006, 1,792 were placed into foster care.
· Of those children in care during 2007, 33.8 percent were placed predominately in foster care with extended family.
· For those children living in foster care, the preservation of natural family relationships is very important. Whenever possible, sibling units are placed in the same foster home.
· On July 1, 2007, a total of 1,822 sibling groups were in foster care in Kern County. Of these, 38.6 percent were placed together with all siblings and 65.3 percent were placed with some or all siblings in care.
· 62.3 percent of all children in foster care during 2006 who were either discharged to emancipation or turned 18 while still in care, had been in foster care for 3 years or longer. These youth had been placed either with extended family or in-group home settings.
· In July of 2007, 41 percent of Kern’s children in foster care had been in care for more than two years and 17 percent had been in care five years or more. Center for Social Services Research, UC Berkeley
