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| Kinship Care Project . . . | |
For the last three years, Bet Tzedek has offered free and expert legal services to these families. The families we serve are poor, and struggle to provide decent housing, education, and health care for these forgotten or abandoned young children. Approximately 85% of the families served annually by our Kinship Care attorney are African-American or Latino. Bet Tzedek’s Kinship Care Project is unique in Los Angeles County. No other service provider focuses on this population. The help we offer keeps children out of the foster care system, and ensures that all available government benefits are accessed, that health care is provided, and that rights to decent and safe housing are preserved. Bet Tzedek published Southern California’s first comprehensive guide for relative caregivers, Caring for a Relative’s Child. The guide is available in both English and Spanish, and is the primary resource of its kind used by social workers throughout Los Angeles County. To date, approximately 5,000 guides have been distributed. Kirsten Albrecht has been the Directing Attorney of the Kinship Care Project since its founding. Kirsten assists caregivers with a variety of issues, including children’s disability benefits, adoptions and foster care and represents families in legal proceedings. Volunteer counsel from major law firms in L.A. provide additional resources. Bet Tzedek offers additional legal resources to these families, including housing, wills preparation and other matters consistent with our organization’s commitment to the needs of L.A.’s seniorsKinship Care Consumer Guide (PDF) >> |
Bet Tzedek created the Kinship Care Project in 2002 to address the needs of the more than 88,000 children in Los Angeles County who live with their grandparents. The Kinship Care Project offers a variety of services to grandparents and others who are raising their young family members. When parents are unavailable or unable to care for their children, grandparents often step in to provide a loving home and to keep their loved ones safe from the emotional turmoil of foster care placements. Research confirms the common sense understanding that kinship care offers greater stability than living with non-relatives.  |
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Bet Tzedek is an affiliated agency of the United Way and The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles.
Bet Tzedek gratefully acknowledges the support of The Archstone Foundation.
Legal services for Nazi victims have been supported by a grant from the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany.