Blog
How Storytelling Shapes Understanding of Kinship Families at ASCI
At A Second Chance, Inc. (ASCI), storytelling plays a critical role in shaping how families involved in child welfare and kinship care are understood. In a recent conversation, Dr. Ervin Dyer, BA, MS, MA, PhD, ASCI board member and journalist and, reflected on how journalism, when grounded in truth and lived experience, can deepen that understanding and challenge long-standing misconceptions.
Dr. Dyer emphasizes that reporting on families isn’t just about sharing stories but about entering communities with respect, listening closely, and portraying the realities families face without judgment. By highlighting both obstacles and resilience, journalism can move beyond stereotypes and provide a fuller, more nuanced picture of kinship care and community life.
Journalism is an industry where you’re supposed to engage in telling the truth, being honest, and investigating. I think we need to apply those same principles to how we talk about families.
Dr. Ervin Dyer, BA, MS, MA, PhD
For Dr. Dyer, that work begins in community. It requires presence, curiosity, and a willingness to listen beyond assumptions. Through this process, journalism becomes a tool not just for reporting, but for understanding and helping to shape how kinship, care, and community are viewed. It’s about centering the voices of those directly impacted, revealing the complexities of family life, and challenging the stereotypes that too often dominate public perception. By capturing both struggles and resilience, journalists can illuminate the realities of kinship care and rally for policies and practices that truly support families.
When we go into communities and have conversations with families, we find and share their truth and report it honestly. You have to go into communities not thinking that you know it all.
Dr. Ervin Dyer, BA, MS, MA, PhD
At ASCI, that approach aligns with a broader commitment to centering families in both practice and narrative. Dr. Dyer notes that too often, coverage of child welfare is shaped by stereotypes rather than lived realities. Challenging those narratives requires intention. It also requires journalists to treat family-centered reporting with the same depth and urgency as any other beat, recognizing that families’ experiences are complex, their resilience is profound, and their voices are essential to understanding the system.
We send reporters all the time to cover energy, to cover city council. I think reporters and journalists need to be just as energetic to go into communities and get to know families, sit with them, talk with them, observe, and see what’s going on.
Dr. Ervin Dyer, BA, MS, MA, PhD
Through ASCI’s work, we pride ourselves on demonstrating accurate and compassionate storytelling which drives real impact. By centering the experiences of families in care, journalism can reveal gaps in support, expose systemic barriers, and provide policymakers with a clearer understanding of what these families truly need. When stories are grounded in truth and lived experience, they become a catalyst for change, helping organizations like ASCI, bridge the gap between public perception and policies that better serve children, caregivers, and kinship families across the communities it supports.
Lifting up their voices can impact not only the work that we do at ASCI, it can also educate the child welfare industry in the broader sense. If you don’t center family voices that you’re going to have a hole in your story.
Dr. Ervin Dyer, BA, MS, MA, PhD
That belief underscores the vital partnership between journalists, organizations like ASCI, and the families they serve. Without those voices, the full story of kinship care and child welfare remains incomplete. Dr. Ervin Dyer’s perspective is informed not only by his professional work but also by personal experience navigating kinship care. He recalls moments of uncertainty and isolation while caring for family members, experiences that highlight the importance of accessible information, supportive programs, and guidance for caregivers.
That connection between storytelling and service is central to the work at ASCI. Through programs that provide resources, guidance, and direct support to kinship families, we ensure that families know where to turn and feel empowered in their caregiving roles. By amplifying lived experiences and prioritizing truth in every story, ASCI helps shift public narratives, combats stereotypes, and strengthens community understanding. In doing so, this organization not only makes families visible, but ensures they are heard, supported, and better able to navigate the systems that impact their lives.
It’s very important to be informed and I think journalists telling the stories of kinship families can be very beneficial to educating not just people who need kinship care but the larger public about why it exists and why we need to pursue it.
Dr. Ervin Dyer, BA, MS, MA, PhD
Through this work, ASCI and journalists like Dr. Ervin Dyer demonstrate that telling these stories with honesty, empathy, and rigor is not just reporting, it is a form of support. When families’ voices are centered, communities gain understanding, policies are informed, and kinship care is recognized for the vital role it plays in nurturing, protecting, and sustaining children. In the end, at ASCI, every story shared is a step toward stronger families and a more just, connected society.