What is kinship care?

Kinship care, or family caring for family, is a natural, out-of-home placement option for children that successfully meets their need for safety, permanency and well-being. 

Impact

Better Outcomes for Children

Children in care have already experienced the trauma of being removed from their homes and families. Placing them with strangers only compounds that trauma. Placing them in the homes of relatives or fictive kin reduces the chance for further trauma, while at the same time maintains their connection to their communities and cultures.

Model

A Value for Family

As the only agency in the country that exclusively delivers services to the entire kinship triad (child, caregiver and birth family), our approach is pure kinship. We provide strengths-based, trauma-informed, culturally competent kinship care services that support stability and continuity and maintain a child's cultural identity and contact with their birth family.

Values

What Is Important to Us?

ASCI values diversity, equity and inclusion. We show our kinship families and birth families respect and help them maintain their dignity. We are honest and transparent. And we always consider the culture of those with whom we interact, responding sensitively and respectfully based on their beliefs, practices and needs.

How We Have Helped


ASCI has served approximately 31,000 children, 10,000 kinship caregivers and 30,000 birth parents since its founding.

Reunification

70% of our children reach reunification within the first year of service.

70%

Education

98% of our youth graduate high school, compared to the national average of 50%.

98%

Adoption

78% of our children have closed to adoption.

78%
Uncategorized
Love, Loss, and Little Footsteps: A Conversation with Linda Boden

Each month, A Second Chance, Inc. (ASCI) amplifies the voices of our kinship. As an agency committed to establishing a safe, secure, and nurturing environment for children entrusted to the…

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Uncategorized
ASCI Forward: Innovating and Shaping the Future of Care for Children and Families

At A Second Chance, Inc. (ASCI), our work is rooted in a powerful belief: children thrive when they remain connected to their families. As we celebrate more than 30 years…

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ASCI Events
Empowering Kinship Caregivers: A Back-to-School Gathering for Support and Strength

As summer winds down, many families begin preparing for the return to school, but for kinship caregivers, this season can bring unique challenges and emotions. That’s why A Second Chance,…

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Community
Camp COPES Returns for an Empowering Summer Experience!

Summer is here, and that means it’s time for connection, movement, and growth—and what better way to experience all three than at Camp COPES! Camp COPES (Children Optimizing Personal Experience…

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