Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator Program

The Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator Program (Colorado Kinnected) is designed for children and families with open child welfare cases who are entering a new kinship placement. Colorado Kinnected aims to strengthen the support community around children and their families. Colorado Kinnected’s Kinship Navigators use an approach that integrates multiple trauma-informed interventions and coordinates support for kinship caregivers and families.

Colorado Kinnected’s three kinship intervention components are delivered simultaneously and include: (1) Kinship Services, (2) Facilitated Family Engagement, and (3) Family Search and Engagement. The Kinship Services component includes administering a needs assessment and aims to coordinate corresponding services and supports to ensure children can remain with kinship caregivers in sustained placements. The Facilitated Family Engagement component aims to establish common goals for safety, well-being, and permanency through collaborative meetings involving families, caseworkers, child welfare supervisors, service providers, and friends or family. In this component, the family identifies their existing connections and community supports and the intervention strives to strengthen them. The Family Search and Engagement component includes strategies to help locate and engage family members and non-relative kin for children who enter foster care. This component aims to find relatives and other adults who could potentially provide a permanent home and enhance care and support networks for the child. Search strategies include interviews with the youth and birth parents, search engines, government databases, social media, and emergency school contacts.

Colorado Kinnected is rated as a promising practice because at least one study achieved a rating of moderate or high on study design and execution and demonstrated a favorable effect on a target outcome.

Date Research Evidence Last Reviewed: Dec 2022

Sources

The program or service description, target population, and program or service delivery and implementation information were informed by the following sources: the program or service manual, the program or service developer’s website, and the studies reviewed.

This information does not necessarily represent the views of the program or service developers. For more information on how this program or service was reviewed, visit the Review Process page or download the Handbook.

Target Population

Colorado Kinnected is designed for children and families with open child welfare cases who are entering a new kinship placement.

Program or Service Delivery and Implementation

Dosage

Kinship Navigators deliver Colorado Kinnected services throughout the kinship placement, with most services delivered in the first 60–90 days after placement. Kinship families have monthly meetings with their Kinship Navigator during the first 90 days of the placement and quarterly thereafter.

Location/Delivery Setting

Recommended Locations/Delivery Settings

Colorado Kinnected is delivered in community settings and in participants’ homes.

Location/Delivery Settings Observed in the Research

Home
County Human Services Offices

Education, Certifications and Training

Kinship Navigators should have a strong background in child welfare practice and working knowledge of kinship family interventions and support services. Kinship Navigators participate in an initial onboarding and training in Colorado’s Child Welfare Training System to integrate them into the state child welfare system and orient them to working with kinship families. Kinship Navigators receive supplemental trainings as needed.

Program or Service Documentation

Book/Manual/Available documentation used for review

The Program Manual is delivered in conjunction with the Kinship Navigator Handbook.

Alessi, L., Berzinskas, J., Forehand, G., & Winokur, M. (2022). Colorado Kinnected program manual. Colorado State University.

Colorado Office of Children Youth & Families, Division of Child Welfare. (2022). Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator handbook.

Available languages

Colorado Kinnected materials are available in English.

For More Information

Website: https://cdhs.colorado.gov/our-services/child-and-family-services/kinship

Phone: (303) 866-5700

Note: The details on Dosage; Location; Education, Certifications, and Training; Other Supporting Materials; and For More Information sections above are provided to website users for informational purposes only. This information is not exhaustive and may be subject to change.

Extent of Evidence

Results of Search and Review	Number of Studies Identified and Reviewed for Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator Program
Identified in Search	1
Eligible for Review	1
Rated High	0
Rated Moderate	1
Rated Low	0
Reviewed Only for Risk of Harm	0

Summary of Findings

Outcome	Effect Size and Implied Percentile Effect	N of Studies (Findings)	N of Participants	Summary of Findings
Child permanency: Planned permanent exits	0.27 10	1 (1)	402	Favorable: 1 No Effect: 0 Unfavorable: 0

Note: For the effect sizes and implied percentile effects reported in the table, a positive number favors the intervention group and a negative number favors the comparison group.

Individual Study Findings

Outcome	Effect Size and Implied Percentile Effect	N of Studies (Findings)	N of Participants	Summary of Findings	Months after treatment when outcome measured
Child permanency: Planned permanent exits	0.27 10	1 (1)	402	Favorable: 1 No Effect: 0 Unfavorable: 0	-
Study 14733 - Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator Program vs Usual Services Control (Forehand, 2022)
Reunification With Parents	0.27 * 10	-	402	-	0

*p <.05

Note: For the effect sizes and implied percentile effects reported in the table, a positive number favors the intervention group and a negative number favors the comparison group. Effect sizes and implied percentile effects were calculated by the Prevention Services Clearinghouse as described in the Handbook of Standards and Procedures, Section 5.10.4 and may not align with effect sizes reported in individual publications.

Only publications with eligible contrasts that met design and execution standards are included in the individual study findings table.

Full citations for the studies shown in the table are available in the "Studies Reviewed" section.

Studies Reviewed

Sometimes study results are reported in more than one document, or a single document reports results from multiple studies. Studies are identified below by their Prevention Services Clearinghouse study identification numbers. To receive a rating of supported or well-supported, the favorable evidence for a program or service must have been obtained from research conducted in a usual care or practice setting.

Studies Rated Moderate

Study 14733

Forehand, G., Alessi, L., & Winokur, M. (2022). Impact study of the Colorado Kinnected Kinship Navigator Program. Human Services Research Institute; Social Work Research Center, Colorado State University. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gX-AcIcsuPVex2fdcXDy6FAjPtQZMhO_/view