Understanding the Legal Challenges of Kinship Families
Category: Season 9
Jacqueline Amor-Zitzelberger, MA, Extension Educator
Jacque’ is an PennState Extension Educator based in Clearfield, PA. She works in the Food, Families, and Health unit and provides community-based educational programs related to Early Childhood Education, Family Strengths, Behavioral Health & Substance Misuse, and the Relatives as Parents (RAPP) program.
Kristina P. Brant, Ph.D., Extension Educator
Kristina is a sociologist interested in the family and community dimensions of substance use. Her research concerns topics such as institutional responses to parental substance use disorder, family dynamics amid kinship care, and community understandings of addiction and recovery. She utilizes qualitative methods, including ethnography and in-depth interviewing, to examine these issues in rural U.S. communities, particularly rural Appalachia.
Kinship Legal Issues discusses the physical and legal custody of children held by kin caregivers and the implications of these different legal arrangements for families. There will be further discussion on the statutes under Title 23, which specifically impact grandparents and their ability to file for primary physical and legal custody, partial custody, and visitation.