A family perspective

It's the first day of a new school year, and you're overwhelmed as your six- and eight-year-olds get off the school bus and hand you folders of paperwork to complete. You light up as you see the activities calendar and colorful flyers for upcoming events. You're new to the school and eager to connect with other parents and caregivers for support in figuring out what this new stage of life will look like for you. But the first two events are "Muffins with Mom" and "Parent Pizza Night," and you're not the children's mom or legal parent. Every form requires a parent's signature, but you are a grandparent caring for grandchildren. At this point, you don't even have legal custody of the children. How do you feel?

An overlooked opportunity

As the scenario above suggests, despite schools' well-intended efforts to welcome families, they often overlook a growing part of school communities – kinship caregivers and grandfamilies. Kinship caregiving refers to family arrangements where relatives other than parents step in as primary caregivers. These nontraditional families are increasingly common across the nation and in the Appalachia region. About 1.1 million U.S. households with at least one child under age 18 are headed by grandparents or other kin.¹ In the REL Appalachia region, 247,000 children are being raised by grandparents or other kin.²

Yet school systems may not have fully considered the unique needs and dynamics of nontraditional families. This can result in an environment where caregivers who do not fit the traditional parent mold feel ignored or out of place. When people don't perceive a place as welcoming, it becomes challenging for them to get involved, let alone become meaningfully engaged. This unintentional exclusion can impact a caregiver's ability to actively participate in the child's education, which can ultimately affect the child's academic achievement, attendance, and prosocial behaviors (such as showing kindness, sharing and cooperating with others).^4,5,6 The good news is there are easy ways for schools to welcome kinship caregivers and grandfamilies. Making small, intentional adjustments can yield positive and lasting change. In this blog post, we share what we know about needs in the Appalachian region, consider how REL Appalachia is working in this space, and suggest practical strategies that educators can use in schools. This is more than a conversation starter; it's a guide to action.

Current challenges and efforts in Appalachia

The U.S. Department of Education recently released reports from regional advisory committees that identify and address priority education needs across the country. The report for Appalachia, which includes Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, highlighted grandparents raising grandchildren as a particular area of need in regard to family engagement. Given the decades of research showing the positive impact family engagement can have on student academic achievement, connecting with this growing segment of the school community is vital.⁶

Identifying this need resonated with us because over the last year, REL Appalachia has been convening a community of practice (CoP) of educators, social workers, school counselors, nonprofit leaders, and other school-supporting professionals from across our four-state region to answer the question "What do schools need to do to better support students living with kinship caregivers and grandfamilies?" The CoP members determined its first priority was creating a culture of belonging by using inclusive language and proactive outreach. Schools can easily leverage this universal approach to create a welcoming environment for all families and invite them to participate in their students' education.

Practical strategies for building bridges

REL Appalachia and the CoP members have developed some practical strategies educators in schools can employ to build bridges and include kinship caregivers and grandfamilies:

• Revise official documents. Official documents and forms that families fill out are sometimes the first interactions families have with schools, so it's important that these items are welcoming and include everyone. Consider revising school documents and forms to include alternative caregiver options. For example, when asking adults to indicate their relationship to a student, include options such as "kinship caregiver," "grandparent caregiver," or "other caregiver (please specify)."

• Reach out and connect with caregivers. The beginning of the school year is an excellent time to meet with caregivers to learn about their relationships to their students and to discuss ways they want to be included during the school year. You can also reach out at any point in the school year, particularly if you later learn that a student lives with a kinship caregiver. Find out what knowledge or expertise caregivers have and how they can contribute to the classroom, such as by sharing their life experiences for a class project or serving as a mystery guest reader.

• Use multiple communication channels. Clear, consistent communication is important to make sure families and educators stay up to date on a student's learning as well as on classroom and school activities. Ask each family its preferred mode of communication. Let families know how you and the school will communicate and how frequently. To make sure everyone stays connected, use several methods for communicating with families, such as emails, phone calls, newsletters, social media, and even letters home.

• Rename popular meetings, events, and activities. There are many opportunities for engaging families in school and classroom functions. But consider how those functions are described to families. Will all caregivers feel they belong at those functions? Parent-teacher conferences could be renamed to family-teacher conferences, growth gatherings, or something even more creative. Events such as "Donuts with Dads" or "Muffins with Moms" could be called "Coffee with Caregivers" or "Feasting with Families" instead.

• Continue self-reflection. Changing our language and behaviors to be more inclusive is an ongoing process. Take opportunities throughout the school year to reflect on and examine your language use and behaviors. Consider professional learning options to increase your awareness and practice of inclusivity, and find trusted colleagues to hold you accountable and help you recognize areas for growth around inclusion.

Using more inclusive language is a powerful first step in creating more a welcoming culture for all families, but it isn't the end of building bridges with kinship caregivers and grandfamilies. Our CoP work continues to explore more ways to support these family configurations. Below we share the resources we've developed so far and a way you can stay connected to find out about upcoming CoP work.

Resources to learn more

Share the message: Send this blog post or this new infographic, "Welcoming All: How Educators Can Use Inclusive Language with Kinship Caregivers and Grandfamilies," to educators in your networks.

Explore and consider replicating: Check out our CoP meeting materials and consider using them to convene a similar group in your local community.

• Kickoff flyer
• Session 1 on inclusive language
• Session 2 on family engagement
• Session 3 on using empathy interviews to gain perspective
• Session 4 on improving attendance
• Session 5 on navigating legal education issues

Stay connected: Subscribe to the REL Appalachia quarterly newsletter to stay informed about how our CoP work is progressing in developing other resources to support kinship caregivers and grandfamilies.