Department of Human Services Hosts Kinship Care Summit, Celebrates Caretakers and Connects Kinship Families to Resources | Department of Human Services | Commonwealth of[...]

Harrisburg, PA - Over the weekend, the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services (DHS) invited kinship families from across the Commonwealth to attend the Kinship Care 2025 Summit, at the Whitaker Center in Harrisburg. The Summit, entitled Lessons from Heart and Home Stories, connected kinship caregivers, children, advocates, professionals from County Children & Youth services, and private child welfare agencies to celebrate kinship families and help them find new tools and resources.

Kinship caregivers - such as grandparents, aunts or uncles, adult siblings, or a close family friend - are blood and non-blood relatives who care for children when their biological parents are not able to for various reasons. Kinship care arrangements help maintain family bonds and reduce trauma experienced when children cannot be cared for by their own parents.

"Caring for a child, especially in a kinship care situation, is both rewarding and challenging," said DHS Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh. "At DHS, we strive to provide kindship families with the information and resources they need to take care of themselves and the children in their care, including connecting them to physical and mental health care, financial assistance, legal referrals, and much more. The Kinship Care Summit is one example of our efforts to support the people who step up to fill this role for children in their lives."

The 2025 Kinship Summit was designed to celebrate and amplify the voices of individuals with lived experiences in kinship care. The day provided an opportunity for families to share their journey, listen to panel discussions on kinship successes, and collaborate to find solutions to shared challenges.

DHS coordinates work across Pennsylvania to support the nearly 260,000 children living in homes with kinship caregivers and the roughly 83,000 grandparents who are caring for their grandchildren. PA KinConnector is a resource that provides information, referrals, and education programs for kinship caregivers in Pennsylvania. KinConnector also runs a helpline that can be reached by calling 1-866-KIN-2111 (1-866-546-2111). The KinConnector helpline is staffed by knowledgeable, compassionate social service professionals prepared to help kinship care families understand and access resources that may be able to help them and children in their care.

Watch stories from families highlighted at the Kinship Summit here.