Episode 32: Kinship Caregivers

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Today’s episode is a conversation with Janet Salo, a family support specialist for Lutheran Social Service’s Kinship Family Support Service. Kinship caregivers are people who are caring for children of other family members or friends who’s parents aren’t able to care for them. 

Maybe you aren’t a kinship caregiver. Possibly you didn’t even know that was a thing. However, when someone takes on the responsibility to parent a child, because their parents aren’t able to, they become a caregiver with some very specific issues they need to find support for. Oftentimes people become kinship caregivers without even understanding that they have become a caregiver. It’s something they just felt they needed to do. Just like any other caregiver, they can experience the stresses of finding appropriate medical services for the kids, find legal help, give and get emotional support for both the child and themselves. They also can experience being judged by others and feeling alone in learning how to parent again after many years or for the first time in their lives. 

This episode is important not only for people who have stepped in to care for a child but for family members and friends of these caregivers so they can understand the needs of their loved one that they might not have been aware of.  

It’s also very interesting to see the caregiving experience from a different perspective. As a cancer caregiver I was able to see my own experience in a different light and learned a lot about myself while learning about kinship caregivers from Janet.

If you would like to find more information on Kinship Support Services go to www.kinshipcaregivers.org 

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