Potential kin placements and connections may be scared off by your existing messages and forms. If your communications look like legal notices, use lots of government acronyms and jargon, or aren't translated, they may be discarded or overlooked.

Test your messages with kin to make sure they are clear and actionable. Improve your messaging based on the feedback you get. This can increase the effectiveness of your kin engagement. It's particularly important to test notices that are sent to kin within 30 days of a child or youth’s removal.

How to do this

Gather and review your current communications. Compile a list of all communications used for finding kin, like notification letters, forms, meeting invitations, and phone call scripts. Identify someone who can collect feedback from kin about these existing communications.

Conduct user research with diverse kin. Include current kin caregivers, previously identified kin who are not current caregivers, and kin in the community who have never been contacted by child welfare. Existing caregiver support groups can be good resources for finding caregivers. Test both the language in your current messages and the format, since kin may tell you that they rarely look at physical mail or don't answer unknown phone numbers.

Compensate kin fairly for their time ($40-50 is common for a half-hour meeting). If you pay them with gift cards, offer both digital and physical options. If choosing a gift card for a specific store, confirm it's for a store they can access easily or ask what their preferred store is.

Revise communications based on feedback. Update existing communications based on kin feedback. This may include adding or removing communication channels. For example, you may replace phone calls with text messages. Translate communications into other languages based on what is spoken locally, using human translators whenever possible since translation software may not capture local dialects or cultural nuances.

Set up a solution for one-off translations as needed, like LanguageLine. Add this resource to training materials for staff involved in finding and engaging kin. Share de-identified kin feedback with staff through an intranet site, team meeting presentations, or emailed reports.