Partnering to Serve Grandfamilies

The Cooperative State, Research, Education and Extension Service (CSREES) is proud to partner with the Brookdale Foundation Group and others to promote quality supports and services to relatives raising children (also known as “grandfamilies” and “kinship care”) through the Cooperative Extension System (CES).

Since 1999, when an Extension-sponsored national satellite program entitled Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Implications for Professionals and Agencies aired, state and local Extension staff have responded to the needs of relative caregivers by becoming involved in community partnerships and helping develop educational resources.

These partnerships and resources have targeted caregivers as well as the children they are raising.

Supports for the children and youth are often delivered through 4-H programs, a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. Examples of such programs are listed here.

For a more detailed listing of the twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia providing some level of support to relative caregivers, click here.

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