Test your communications with real kin

About this recommendation

Your existing messages and forms may be scaring off or confusing potential kin placements and connections. Communications that look like legal notices, use government acronyms and jargon, or that aren’t translated may be discarded or overlooked. This is particularly important when sending notices to kin within 30 days of removal. Ensure your messages to kin are clear and actionable by testing them with real kin, and then improving your messages based on their feedback.

How to do this

• Compile a list of all kin-finding communications (e.g., notification letters, forms, meeting invitations, and phone call scripts).
• Identify a resource who can collect feedback from kin about these existing communications.
• Conduct user research and usability testing with kin. Include a diverse group of kin, including: current kin caregivers; previously identified kin who are not current caregivers; and kin in the community who have never been contacted by child welfare
• Test both the language in your current messages and also the format. For example, kin may tell you that they infrequently look at physical mail, or that they don’t answer unknown phone numbers.
• Compensate kin fairly for the time they spend with you. $25-50 is common for a one-hour meeting. When providing a gift card, offer both digital and physical card options, and confirm it’s for a store the recipient can easily access.
• Revise existing communications based on kin feedback. Revisions may include expanding and/or eliminating communication channels (such as replacing or augmenting phone calls with text messages).
• Translate communications into other languages based on your local demographics. Use a human translator, wherever possible, over tools like Google Translate, which may not account for cultural nuances.
• Identify a solution for one-off translations as needed, such as LanguageLine. Add this resource to the training, practice guides, and other materials used by staff who conduct kin finding.
• Share de-identified kin feedback with staff for awareness. This could be key quotations posted on an Intranet site, a presentation at a team meeting, and/or an emailed report.

Anticipated costs and benefits

Who's doing this

• We intend to develop example, user-tested messages in 2024 through the working group. If you have a letter, form, or other message you’d like to share for the toolkit, let us know.