Blog
Welcome to the official OhioKAN Blog, The Navigator. Please find entries from our OhioKAN staff and leadership with insights on navigating kinship and adoptive life.
LATEST POSTS FROM The Navigator
A Community Comes Together to Support a Family
An aunt and uncle have legal custody of their 4-year-old niece, who had been the victim of shaken baby syndrome at 4 months of age. As a result, she has…
Interview with Veronica Burroughs
For OhioKAN’s second anniversary, we interviewed Veronica Burroughs, OhioKAN’s Project Manager from the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. Veronica has been with the program since its origin. We…
A Kinship Family Story
Ashleigh Jordan takes care of five children. She’s a working single mom in Cincinnati who, with two kids of her own, took in three more. She’s what we call a…
Coping with Feelings of Abandonment
Abandonment. The word alone can trigger feelings of angst, worry, isolation, rejection…the list is quite extensive. For many children finding themselves in a home away from their norm, emotions are…
Bridging the Age Gap Between Kinship Caregivers and Children
My mother was 39 and my father was 37 when I was born. There were times when this age difference was challenging for me as a child. The almost 40-year…
Road Trip of an Adoptive Mom
In 2008, our family adopted our youngest son from the foster care system. Prior to adoption, my husband and I dove in headfirst, educating ourselves on what to expect, researching,…