This week we’re digging into the archives to feature Kinship House as part of our award-winning Community Voices series.

A stable, healthy home is of utmost importance in building supportive foster families. The Kinship House helps to minimize these transitions and increases the chances of children settling into stable, healthy and permanent homes. A full-service child mental health agency, the organization’s outpatient child and family services combine ongoing consultation, therapy and education. Kinship House provides treatment for children’s mental health issues and also helps families develop secure attachments. Having an attachment to caring adults  helps to stabilize a child’s mental health.

In the mid 1990s a group of mental health professionals observed a significant gap in the delivery of child welfare services and meeting the mental health needs of children in foster care. Kinship House provides a resource to families that serves as a model for the mental health and child welfare community.

In order to create a more comfortable environment for families and children, their offices are located in two neighboring houses. Kinship House is a place where children may relax, talk, play, and feel as though it’s their own space. The Houses are located  in a friendly Northeast Portland neighborhood, easily accessible by MAX, bus, bike or car.

If you’d like to make a difference in the lives of Foster children and their families visit their website for information about how to volunteer with the organization. Past podcasts, featuring interview sessions with members of the organization, are below.

Timothy Travis, Board Member

Tia Shows, Staff Member

Heather Jefferis, Executive Director

Melissa Smith-Hohnstein, Clinical Director & Therapist

 

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