About Us
July 5, 2024
Author: Melissa L. Weber
Choosing the right capstone program may be a challenge for some students. Sydney Pinder’s capstone started as a volunteer experience that placed her exactly where she wanted to be: providing support to families through Kinship Caregivers Connect (KCC).
KCC supports family members—grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, even older siblings—who provide full-time care for children of relatives. These family members take over for the children’s parents often because of crisis situations such as sudden accidents, mental health disorders, substance use disorders, or other reasons the parents are unable to provide a stable environment for their kids. The family members who step up to care for kids prevent the children from being placed in foster care. Research shows children fare better with family members, and kinship care saves the welfare system money and resources as well.
Family members offering care
Angela (Provenzano) Tobin, (OTD ‘19) founder and director of Kinship Caregivers Connect, started the organization based in part on her own family’s experience: Her grandparents cared for her cousin when his parents were unable to care for him. When her grandmother died from cancer, her own parents became her cousin’s guardian.
“Many people know about foster care, but haven’t heard of kinship care,” explained Tobin in a TedX Talk delivered at Ohio State in 2023. She explained foster parents choose to help kids and receive training. They get monthly stipends to help pay for expenses based on the child’s needs. Family members who step in during an emergency typically have no preparation or support.
“Kinship Care has many different layers of complexity,” Tobin said. “Besides lacking a system of support, suddenly caring for a child or children can strain every aspect of the caregivers’ life: their other relationships, their home environment, their job, and of course, finances.”
Tobin founded KCC to provide a support network for caregivers. She envisioned offering caregivers a community to share struggles and help find resources. As an occupational therapist, she saw her role as caring for the whole person.
“OT takes a holistic approach to health to help people,” Tobin said. “When we assess a patient or client, we look at the whole person—values, motivations, plus the task they want to accomplish. Occupation doesn’t mean just job.”
Through group sessions held online, Tobin soon learned that supporting the caregivers included offering tools to help them better support the children in their care. Many of the children have experienced trauma or neglect and some have challenges with self-regulation. KCC has developed training sessions and resources that support self-care and trauma-informed caregiving practices.
From a volunteer to a supportive participant
Pinder learned about KCC when Tobin spoke about the program at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences.
As an undergraduate, Pinder knew she wanted to work with people in the medical field and focused her career goals on personal interactions and building relationships.
“Occupational Therapy lends itself to making a positive impact,” said Pinder. “It matched what I wanted most in a career.”
When Tobin asked for volunteers to help provide childcare during in-person events and activities, Pinder volunteered. As she got to know participants, she became more involved, sitting in on support groups and interviewing caregivers.
When it came time for her capstone, she wanted to find an opportunity to provide mental health support. Working with KCC was a perfect fit, matching her interests and allowing her to both learn and offer support. She added to KCC services by providing individual consultation and coaching for caregivers, such as helping them advocate for their child and prepare for a meeting with school officials.
As part of her capstone, Pinder completed a scoping review and literature search, as well as speaking with Tobin and getting feedback from caregivers who participated in programs with KCC. She determined three primary health care needs: mental health support, social support, and education. She developed and implemented training sessions around strategies for caring for children with special health care needs. Guest speakers regularly lead presentations around topics such as custody and legal issues, trauma-informed parenting strategies, and cybersafety.
“I was expecting to address caregivers’ mental health needs,” said Pinder. “I wasn’t expecting to address children’s needs. I learned how much of the caregivers’ well-being is intertwined with the well-being of the children in their care.”
Pinder was Tobin’s first capstone student at KCC. At first, Tobin was nervous about how Pinder would relate to kinship caregivers without having personal experience herself.
“Sydney has been so wonderful,” said Tobin. “She learned to meet people where they are. She became an insider.”