Who We Are

Kindred Hearts of South Carolina is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, formed to serve kinship caregivers and their families. This organization is born from the idea of four members of the South Carolina Citizen Review Panel (SCCRP), who devised a service initiative to hear from caregivers and provide valuable resources and support. After realizing the need for support for families, with formal and informal placements, exceeded the scope of the CRP’s policy review and public outreach obligations; Dr. Kimberly Janha, in collaboration with Kayla Mallett, sought to create a more robust and comprehensive plan to better serve kinship communities.

WHY WE SERVE

Kindred Hearts SC, a kinship navigator program, spawned from the need to address the gaps in services and resources available to caregivers not involved in the child protective services system; while being inclusive of families with both formal and informal placements. The ability to navigate systems to obtain resources to ensure a safe and healthy living environment is paramount in the development and well-being of the children and the caregivers.

We are committed to build and sustain a community that intentionally collaborates to provide resources to kinship care families in the 46 counties of South Carolina. We believe that a deliberate collaboration among state agencies and community organizations and businesses can offer a network that will reach all identified kinship families.

KHSC serves whole families; but, works most directly with caregivers such as grandparents, aunts & uncles, and other relatives and fictive kin to ensure they have access to information, resources, and services. Additionally, the organization works with members of the community to raise awareness of kinship caregiving and to support grassroots advocacy efforts.

KHSC vows to be accessible to all kinship care families in South Carolina. Pilot programs started in July of 2019 in Clarendon, Dorchester, Laurens, Marlboro and Richland Counties. This allowed for the development of the navigation initiatives in rural and urban areas. Upon evaluation of the piloted communities, KHSC will seek collaboration with communities in the remaining counties of SC.