November 6, 2002 

Present: Amy Caparratto: USF Florida Kinship Center; Kate Carter: USF Florida Kinship Center; Norma Colonel: RAPP/Caregivers "In" Power; Saundra Cook: RAPP/Caregivers "In" Power; Linda Darin: USF Florida Kinship Center; Brent Elrod: USF Florida Kinship Center; Esther Giron: Florida Kidcare; Carroll Gossage; USF Florida Kinship Center; Vivian Martin: Self Reliance, Center for Independent Living; Kirsten Maynard: Children's Home Society; LaSandra McGrew: USF Florida Kinship Center; Kathy Monroe: West Central Florida Area Agency on Aging;  Leigh Nations: Lutheran Services Florida; Carolyn Palmer: Kitt Team, USF Florida Kinship Center; Janie Rich: The Children's Home; Aimee Rivera: Mental Health Center; Margaret Schultz: Grandmother; Regina Serles: RAPP/Caregivers "In" Power; Leslie Sims: The Children's Board; Aaron Smith: USF Florida Kinship Center; Roncia St. Clair: The Children's Home; Anne Strozier: USF Florida Kinship Center; Jennifer Taulbee: USF MSW student; Gail Torrens: Grandmother; Tina Yeager: Catholic Charities; Iva Yoeman: BOCC Head Start/Early Head Start.   

Anne Strozier, USF Florida Kinship Center (FKC) called the meeting to order at 9:10 a.m. Introductions were made. Anne asked if there were any corrections to the minutes for the meeting on September 6, 2002. The minutes were approved.

Anne congratulated and thanked everyone for helping to make the 1st Annual kinship care conference a great success. Photos from this event are available to view at the Florida Kinship Center. Copies of a Tampa Tribune article about the conference were passed around. Brent Elrod and Jennifer Taulbee, FKC, are working on the survey results from the conference. Overall the comments were very positive. There are great suggestions for next year as well.

Anne asked the advisory board members for improvements for next year's conference. Linda Darin, FKC, suggested that the name of the session be on the evaluation forms. Gail Torrens, Grandmother, thought that the lunch session was too long while the support groups were too short. She would like to see those reversed.

Brent announced that part of the mission of the Florida Kinship Center is to help bring the support groups together in a statewide network called the FLKIN Support Group Network. Through the state of Florida Department of Children and Families, the Florida Kinship Center's goal is to have a chapter agreement in fifty of the sixty-seven counties in Florida around kinship issues. The goal is to have this completed by June 15, 2003.

Carolyn Palmer, FKC KiTT team member, informed the advisory board that Winter Haven has a support group for relative caregivers at a mental health center. While the children are receiving services at this center, the caregivers have a support group. Carolyn is quitting her job to become a full time advocate for kinship care. She and her husband are adopting their two grandchildren on December 3, 2002.

Linda Darin, FKC, the kick off support group in Lee County had twelve attendees. Two grandmothers are facilitating the group and are doing a great job. The support group meets monthly and the next meeting is on November 20th. Two grandmothers are interested in attending a support group in Sarasota County. She is currently putting out flyers and wants to focus on the Venice area. 

Esther Giron, Florida Kidcare, is a program for low-income families that have uninsured children who are not eligible for Medicaid.

Kathy Monroe, West Central Florida Area Agency on Aging, is promoting the National Family Caregiver Support Program. It is available for Hillsborough, Polk, Manatee, Highlands, and Hardee counties. This program is for relative caregivers over the age of sixty years who live with the child, take care of the child on a full-time basis, and have a legal or informal relationship with the child. The child cannot be more than eighteen years of age.

Vivian Martin, Self Reliance, is the new grants and community outreach coordinator. The Self Reliance center focuses on people with mental or physical disabilities in Hillsborough County. They provide medical equipment in homes. Vivian has an idea to start a support group for Grandparents and other relatives raising children with disabilities.

Aimee Rivera, Mental Health Center, reported that currently their support group is not meeting. It will start again in December. In October they had a carnival for the children. Aimee would like assistance with permanency planning.

Margaret Schultz, Grandmother, is not raising her grandchildren but is a great advocate for grandparents and other relatives raising children. She recently attended the ELCA kinship care convention in St. Louis, Missouri. A judge told her to hire an attorney to receive visitation with her grandchildren.

Gail Torrens, Grandmother, is raising a five-year-old granddaughter. She attends The Children's Home support groups. After attending the kinship care conference in October, she wanted to develop her own permanency plan. She visited The Family Enrichment Center but they were unable to help her because her income is too high for their guidelines. She also went to an attorney to obtain a will but the cost was too high. Her suggestion is to tell relative caregivers the income requirements for programs that are presented at the kinship conference.

Leigh Nations, Lutheran Services, is the new director of program design and development. They have sixty programs nationwide. Some programs are: child food program, immigration, employment, English as a second language, protective supervision, family builders/preservation, and homeless shelters. Leigh is working on grant writing, developing long term programs, and accreditation.

Kirsten Maynard, Children's Home Society, is the new program supervisor for the Children's Visitation House in Pinellas County. Children and their families can have supervised visitation at this facility.

 Roncia St. Clair and Janie Rich, The Children's Home, are working on starting a support group for the Town n' Country area in the caregiver's homes. The Kinship office is moving next week to the Children's Home on Memorial Hwy. Roncia wants to start the St. Joseph's support group again.

Tina Yeager, Catholic Charities, shared that they currently have seven kinship families enrolled. They have been working hard passing out flyers about their program at schools, libraries, and health clinics.

Leslie Sims, The Children's Board, manages the Florida Kinship Center's Kinship Care Connection program's financial agreement through a grant supporting this program. 

Iva Yoeman, Hillsborough County Head Start/ Early Head Start program, reported that they had their first support group meeting. Three grandparents attended with their children. She will update the Florida Kinship Center with the next support group meeting time and place.

Norma Colonel, Saundra Cook, and Regina Serles, RAPP/ Caregivers "In" Power, are starting a new support group in Jacksonville, Florida. They attended the kinship care conference and are very inspired and empowered to help kinship families. They are kinship caregivers themselves and know first hand the issues and hardships at hand and will do their best to work with their support group in addressing these issues. They will keep us updated on the progress of their group.  

The meeting was adjourned at 10:35a.m.

  Minutes submitted by:

       Amy Caparratto   

The Next Kinship Care Advisory Committee Meeting will be held

On Wednesday, January 8, 2002 

From 9:00a.m. To 11:00a.m.

At

The Children's Home Society

2731 13th Ave. N.

St. Petersburg, FL. 33713

Call Kirsten Maynard at 727-552-1487 at the Children's Home Society or Amy Caparratto at (813) 974-8414 at the Florida Kinship Center if you have any questions.

Kinship Care Advisory Committee meeting schedule for 2003:

January 8- Wednesday- The Children's Home Society in St. Petersburg

March 5- Wednesday- The Children's Board in Tampa

May 7- Wednesday- The Children's Home Society in St. Petersburg

July 9- Wednesday- The Children's Board in Tampa

September 10- Wednesday- The Children's Home Society in St. Petersburg

November 5- Wednesday- The Children's Board in Tampa