Director's Page

 

Dear Readers,

The NYS Kinship Navigator has lots to offer caregivers and professionals. Our goal is to get every kinship family the maximum assistance and to provide every professional the tools to reach that primary goal. This month we've added fourteen new legal fact sheets.

Like all of our fact sheets, the new ones are "cited." That means the legal information contains the actual law - statutes, regulations, and case law. Since there is so little legal assistance available, we have to be our own advocates. To do that we need to have knowledge of the relevant laws. Our hope is that when a caregiver has the "cited" law, they are armed with the ammunition to get the right response from authorities.

Our legal fact sheets do help in advocacy. We hear many stories where caregivers and professionals have printed out a certain fact sheet and shown it to a social worker, a lawyer, or a school district - and gotten the right outcome.

In this new batch of fact sheets, I'd like to point out two which are of particular importance. We have new financial assistance fact sheets about social security benefits. We think it is wise for caregivers who are considering applying for a "child-only" grant (also know as: non-parent, cash assistance, "otg") to first consider federal social security benefits. Check out the fact sheets!

Another fact sheet that has very practical and immediate important is about payments for summer camp. Anyone getting a public assistance grant, including a "child-only" grant can get up to $400 for a child's summer camp! Again, check out the new fact sheet.

We hope you are finding what you need. And we invite you to ask us to develop new fact sheets on other topics. Meanwhile look for more fact sheets, more events, and more resources, on our web site.

Sincerely,

by Gerard Wallace, Esq
NYS Kinship Navigator Director