Kin-first Academy: Foundations, Values, and Impact

The first segment of our Kin-first Academy series lays the foundation by exploring core values of a kin-first culture, which emphasizes deep connections and a sense of belonging for children, youth, and families involved with child welfare. By prioritizing these relationships, we aim to support better outcomes and ensure that every child has meaningful ties to their family and community. These connections can significantly enhance their legal, relational, emotional and cultural permanency. Through a combination of interactive lectures and reflective exercises, participants will gain practical insights and strategies for implementing kin-first culture practices. By the end of the course, participants will embrace the value of kin-first culture by advocating for family-centered approaches to promote the best interest of children/youth, supporting their journey towards permanency with their families, communities, and Tribes. This is the foundational course for the Kin-first Academy, with later courses expanding on knowledge, skills and values introduced here. It is strongly recommended that this course be taken first. 

By the end of the course, participants will be able to: 

• Endorse the benefits of kin-first culture, and the requirement to contact kin at the earliest opportunity and continuously throughout the case to enhance for permanency for every child and youth. 
• Recognize the importance of belonging and connectedness in support of kin-first culture. 
• Acknowledge and honor the importance of children, parents and family as the true experts of their own family empowering them to plan an active role in family finding and engagement practices. 
• Believe that every child deserves to have a sense of love, belonging and self-identity. 
• Connect components of ICPM and the "Gold Standard" of the Indian Child Welfare Act to family finding and engagement practices.