This episode focuses on Washington State’s approach to providing kinship support services. The conversation describes how the State’s kinship support is operated by the State’s Aging and Long-Term Support Administration and provides some of its services through a one-time stipend to help new kinship families meet basic needs. This episode also spends time discussing providing kinship navigator services in the Yakima and Tri-Cities region of central Washington, a rural, Latinx community.

Topics discussed include the following:

• Differences in formal and informal kinship caregivers and the differences caseworkers may have to navigate when working with each

• Cultural considerations caseworkers and others should be aware of when working with rural, Latinx communities and families

• The importance of building relationships across a community, not just with kinship families

• Implementation of one-time stipends for kinship families in Washington State