St. Catherine’s Center for Children (SCCC) Kinship Care Program

St. Catherine’s Center for Children (SCCC) Kinship Care Program
40 North Main Ave.
Albany, NY 12203
Program Contact: Melinda Gonzalez
Phone: (518) 390-0802
Email: mgonzalez@st-cath.org

St Catherine's Kinship Care Brochure

The St. Catherine’s Center for Children (SCCC) Kinship Care Program serves the Albany-Schenectady region of upstate New York. A care coordinator and kinship specialist are trained to focus on the needs of kinship caregivers that have informal or legal custody of children up to age 18. With an emphasis on permanency interwoven into all activities, elements of the program include:

• Case management and referral.
  • Community education for the families.
  • Support groups for caregivers.
  • Family engagement activities.
  • Support groups for children in program.
  • Short respite periods, as needed, for the caregivers.

Families receiving SCCC kinship care services participate in support groups, crisis management training, peer-to-peer support activities, and 1:1 educational sessions that are designed to aid the caregivers in successfully navigating social service and legal systems to obtain much-needed services and support.

Parenting a Second Time Around is the guiding curriculum for the program support groups. Additional training sessions are aimed at increasing the caregivers’ understanding of trauma and how to best provide strength-based parenting to the children in their care and promote stability in the home.

One key feature of the SCCC kinship care program is the brief period of restorative relief from supervising the child(ren) that is provided to the caregivers, with the intent to decrease family stressors and temporarily relieve the caretaker(s) from the demanding responsibility of providing care. The children spend time with the trained respite provider in community outings and educational activities.
The program also regularly solicits the input of the caregivers and families to fine-tune services to the specific needs of program participants.

A New York State Office of Children and Family Services Program