Kentucky Kinship Navigator and Caregiver Resources

You signed the caregiver affidavit, enrolled the child in school, and sorted out the first doctor visit. Now you need longer-term support — someone who understands kinship caregiving in Kentucky and can point you toward financial help, legal guidance, or just a group of people who get it.

Kentucky has a statewide kinship navigator network plus regional legal aid and peer-support programs. Most are free. The challenge is that they are scattered across different agencies, and no single website lists them all in one place.

KY-KINS: The State's Kinship Navigator Program

The Kentucky Kinship Information, Navigation and Support program — KY-KINS — is housed at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. It matches relative and fictive kin caregivers with credentialed peer supporters who have lived kinship-caregiving experience themselves.

KY-KINS can help you identify benefit programs, locate respite care, find local support groups, and connect with legal aid. Register through the KY FACES portal at kyfaces.ky.gov or call 859-257-4785.

One thing KY-KINS cannot do: provide legal advice, draft custom documents, or help you during an after-hours emergency. For those situations, you need one of the resources below.

CHFS Kinship Support Hotline

The Cabinet for Health and Family Services runs a dedicated kinship support line at 877-565-5608. Staff can walk you through applying for K-TAP child-only cash assistance, Medicaid cards, childcare subsidies, and SNAP. You can also email [email protected] or [email protected].

For formal complaints about how a DCBS worker handled your case, the CHFS Ombudsman Office takes calls at 502-564-5497.

Legal Aid for Kinship Caregivers

Kentucky's four regional legal aid organizations offer free intake to income-eligible kinship caregivers:

• AppalReD Legal Aid — eastern Kentucky counties
• Legal Aid Society — Louisville and Jefferson County
• Legal Aid of the Bluegrass — central and northern Kentucky
• Kentucky Legal Aid — western Kentucky

Due to high caseloads, these offices prioritize emergency domestic violence, housing, and active child-welfare cases. A straightforward caregiver affidavit question may take longer to reach the front of the queue. Still, if you are facing a contested situation — a school that refuses your affidavit, a parent demanding revocation, or a question about whether you need guardianship — legal aid intake is the right starting point.

Kinship Families Coalition and Kentucky Youth Advocates

Two advocacy organizations produce the free model Caregiver's Authorization Affidavit that most Kentucky caregivers use:

Kentucky Youth Advocates (kyyouth.org) published the original model affidavit template alongside a plain-language FAQ after Senate Bill 176 passed in 2014. Kinship Families Coalition of Kentucky (kinshipky.org) distributes the same model form and runs PASTA (Parenting A Second Time Around) workshops in communities across the state.

Both organizations also advocate for policy changes at the state legislature. Neither provides individualized legal advice.

Support Groups and Peer Networks

Raising a relative's child is isolating, especially in rural Kentucky where the nearest support group might be two counties over. Here are the main options:

• KY-KINS peer supporters — matched one-on-one through the program, available by phone
• PASTA workshops — group sessions run by the Kinship Families Coalition, typically at community centers and churches
• Grandfamilies.org and AARP GrandFacts — national directories that list Kentucky-specific fact sheets and local support group contacts
• KY Thriving Families (kythrivingfamilies.org) — online resources and community connections for kinship caregivers statewide

What to Do First

If you are in the early days of kinship caregiving and overwhelmed by the number of agencies and phone numbers, start here:

1. Call 877-565-5608 (CHFS Kinship Hotline) to ask about K-TAP, Medicaid, and SNAP for the child
2. Register with KY-KINS through kyfaces.ky.gov for a peer supporter
3. Download the free model affidavit from kinshipky.org if you have not executed one yet

For a complete walkthrough of the caregiver affidavit, school enrollment, and medical consent process in Kentucky — including the forms, the parent-search requirements, the renewal calendar, and scripts for front-desk pushback — the School and Medical Consent Guide for Kentucky puts it all in one organized toolkit.

See more Kentucky guides →