Grandparenting & Kinship Resources

More and more, people across New Hampshire are finding themselves unexpectedly parenting a child relative. Whether it’s due to incarceration, substance misuse, illness, or any number of other reasons, a growing number of parents are not able to take care of their children and family members are stepping in. It’s a beautiful act of family love; it avoids the child having to go into the foster care system, and keeps family together.

However, society has not been designed to accommodate this new form of family and these family members face many challenges to raising their relative's children.

To support kinship families, there's the Kinship Navigation Program. Rooted within NH’s Family Resource Centers, the program links grandparents and other relative caregivers to services and supports specific to their family’s needs. Kinship navigators provide emotional support, education, and guidance, and offer information, referral, and follow-up services to promote independence and enhance the well-being of the families they serve.  Navigators can help with matters of healthcare, education, childcare, financial assistance, and with legal questions about protecting your rights and the child’s well-being.

Kinship Navigation services are free and confidential, and available to grandparents and other relative caregivers who are raising a child/children in the absence of the child/children's biological parents.  To learn more and find a kinship navigator near you, click here.