[URL]http://165.107.17.52/pdfs/reports/97103.pdf
https://www.kcdhs.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=654[/URL]
https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/MH/Documents/15-Kern_CtyAggRep-ADA.pdf
https://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/MH/Documents/15-20180621-Kern-ADA-OCWC.pdf
The MHSOAC defines parents/caregivers of children and youth to include biological parents, foster parents, and grandparents. The collaborative partners of the proposed project have expand that definition. “Parents and caregivers” include biological parents, grandparents, siblings, other extended family members (related and non-related kin), foster and adoptive parents, neighbors, mentors, legal representatives, court appointed special advocates, parenting youth involved in the mental health system, and other permanent natural supports to youth. Each of these types of caregivers has unique ex- periences and needs which will be described below. The combination of partners in the collaborative represent all members of this broadened definition of caregivers.
Biological Parents:
This is the most easily defined caregiver subgroup. The standard dictionary definition for biological parent is “a parent who has conceived (biological mother) or sired (bio- logical father) rather than adopted a child and whose genes are therefore transmitted to the child.”
Kinship Caregivers:
Kinship care refers to the care of children by relatives or close family friends. Relatives are often the preferred caregiver for children who cannot live with their birth parents, because it maintains the children’s connections with their biological families.
Grandparents:
Grandparents are kinship caregivers who face additional challenges when they take their grandchildren in to care, such as financial and health concerns, and conflicted relationships with their own children.
Foster Parents:
Foster care is a system in which a child or youth has been taken into the care of a government entity such as the child welfare system. These children and youth are often cared for in private homes of a certified caregiver, referred to as a “foster parent,” or in California, as a “resource parent.”
Guardianship Parents:
Legal guardianship is a court order that says someone who is not the child’s parent is in charge of taking care of the child. Guardianship suspends the parental rights of the parents; it does not terminate the parental rights. Guardianship can also be terminated at any time through the court.
Adoptive Parents:
The word adoptive is an adjective meaning “one who has adopted.” An adoptive parent would be one who has adopted a child who was not born from him/her/them. At the time of the adoption, the child becomes legally his/her/theirs, just as if it were born from him/her/them.
Legal Representatives:
Nearly one hundred times a day, a child in California is placed in foster care. These children then become involved in very complicated and difficult to understand system, including the court system. These children are connected to an attorney, their legal representative, whose goal it is to improve their life. Legal representatives do this by determining the best supports and services specific to their needs, and representing their voice, advocating for their needs in and out of the courts.
Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA):
CASAs are community members who are trained and then appointed by a judge to advocate, on a one-to-one basis, for a youth who has been removed from home due to abuse, neglect and/or abandonment. CASAs develop a bond with each youth and make sure each children-serving systems and other supports know the youth’s perspec- tive and needs.
https://parentscaregivers4wellness....2018-State-of-the-Community-Annual-Report.pdf
