HALOS Spring Festival for Kinship Families

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NORTH CHARLESTON, SC – HALOS held its annual Spring Festival for local kinship families on Saturday, May 4th at Jerry Zucker Middle School of Science.

Kinship caregivers are grandparents or relatives raising children who cannot be with their parents. Kinship care has been called “shadow foster care,” because so many children are being raised outside of the support of the child welfare system. In South Carolina, an estimated 57,000 children are being raised in kinship families as opposed to less than 4,000 in formal foster care.

Kinship families experience many challenges. HALOS’ Director of Programs, Khalilah Sumners, says, “HALOS aims to strengthen kinship families while also increasing while also increasing their connection to the larger kinship community. We organize events like the Spring Festival, where caregivers can meet each other and share their experiences. These gatherings also help children realize that they are not alone in their situation and that family can be defined by the people who love and support them. The event is a fun and uplifting gathering for kinship families. The smiles on the attendees’ faces remind us of the positive impact of our work.”

This year’s festival was attended by 100 caregivers and children. HALOS is grateful to the presenting sponsor, the Isle of Palms Exchange Club, whose support made the event possible, and to additional sponsors Fifth Third Bank and Gildan Corporation.

Games and interactive experiences for the families were provided by community partners North Charleston Fire Department, Movement School, North Charleston Police Department, Charleston County Library, STEAM Thru Drones, Carol’s Balloon Art, Florence Crittenton Programs of SC, Youth Volunteer Corps, MUSC Children’s Hospital, SCDHEC, Dominion Energy, Carolina Teen Center, CCSD Early Learning, Charleston and Berkeley Country First Steps programs, Good Fun and Jason’s Jump Castle. Lunch was provided by Zariah’s Catering and cool treats from Cool Runnings Ice Cream.

For more information about HALOS and the programs and services HALOS provides for kinship families, visit charlestonhalos.org.

ABOUT HALOS: HALOS serves kinship families. Kinship care occurs when a child cannot be with their parents and an adult with a relationship to the child steps in to raise the child. Kinship caregivers are grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, older siblings, neighbors, teachers, and family friends who want to keep the child within the family. So, they volunteer to take in the child themselves. There are 57,000 children in kinship care in South Carolina compared to less than 4,000 in foster care. Because kinship caregivers typically are not licensed foster parents, they do not receive the same financial assistance or case management for caring for the children. HALOS fills that gap by providing comprehensive services tailored to the unique needs of kinship families.