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Kinship Care Solutions Project
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If you are interested in volunteering, please visit our volunteers page for more information.
WHO WE SERVE
- King County residents or cases that can be filed in King County Superior Court
- Low-income individuals
- Relatives or other caregivers with a significant relationship to the child/children
WHAT WE DO
- Provide free legal representation for relatives and other caregivers seeking custody (also known as third party custody) of a child/ren through a panel of volunteer attorneys
- We consider:
- Length of time (if any) that the child has resided with the caregiver
- If the caregiver is a safe and stable placement for the child
- If the child would be at risk if returned to his/her parents
- The difficulty of finding a volunteer attorney for the case
- If the caregiver would have trouble bringing the Nonparental Custody case without an attorney
WHAT WE DO NOT DO
- Help parents
- Help in dependency cases (where children are in foster care) unless parents agree to custody with the caregiver
- Help when the child has Native American ancestry
- Help with adoption cases
WHERE, WHEN, and HOW TO REACH SERVICES
Call KCBA Lawyer Referral Service at (206) 267-7010, Monday-Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. for a screening interview.
If your case is placed with a volunteer attorney, you and your attorney will make arrangements for appointments.
HOW TO PREPARE
- Have the parents’ names, addresses, and birthdates.
- Gather all related paperwork, including past custody orders, protection orders, and CPS or criminal records involving the parents.
- Be prepared to tell how the parents are unfit to care for the child or why it would be detrimental for the child to be with his or her parents to the intake screener over the phone.
- Decide on the desired outcome or goal.
- Identify all deadlines.
- Tell the intake screener about these deadlines.
The mission of the Kinship Care Solutions Project is to ensure that children who are at risk in the care of their parents have safe, stable homes through custody with caring relatives and other caregivers.
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