Family structure affects how a child experiences your classroom, clinic or service.
A child living with a grandparent, aunt, uncle or other caregiver should not have to repeatedly explain or defend their family structure before they can receive ordinary support.
Start with the toolkit, then use the guide for your setting.
Building GRAND-Families has organized its professional material into a practical PEI toolkit, training options and a simple referral pathway. The specialized practice guides below provide the detail for schools, health services, community organizations and other settings.
PEI Kinship-Friendly Practice Toolkit
Checklists, conversation tools, referral supports, a network map, form audit and a complete downloadable package.
Open the toolkitTraining & Presentations
Practical sessions for staff teams on grandfamilies, intake, the first 30 days, trauma-informed communication, child voice and navigation.
See training optionsProfessional Referral
Help a caregiver reach the right starting point without transferring unnecessary case files, medical records or family history.
Open referral guideMake your school, clinic, workplace or community service easier for grandfamilies to use.
These guides translate caregiver experience into practical changes professionals and community members can make without needing to become experts in family law or child welfare.
Understanding Grandfamilies in PEI
Terminology, legal authority, trauma, financial barriers, caregiver capacity and service navigation.
Open the professional guideSupporting Kinship Families at School
Inclusive forms, family activities, caregiver authority, trauma, privacy and Student Well-being Teams.
School practice guideSupporting Kinship Caregivers in Health Care
Consent, privacy, incomplete records, trauma, caregiver capacity and coordination.
Health practice guideSupporting Kinship Caregivers at Work
PEI leave rules, privacy, sudden caregiving responsibilities and predictable flexibility.
Employer guideWelcoming Grandfamilies
Registration, affordability, photographs, transportation, privacy and referrals.
Community organization guideSupporting a Grandfamily Personally
Practical help, respite, privacy and respectful support without putting the child in the middle.
Friends and family guideInformation reviewed September 2026. Program rules can change, so use the linked official source for eligibility and current requirements.
Start by recognizing the family without making the child explain it
A child may live with a grandparent, aunt, uncle, adult sibling, cousin, family friend or another person with an established relationship to them. The caregiver may or may not use terms such as kinship caregiver or grandfamily. Many simply say, “I’m raising my granddaughter” or “my nephew lives with me.”
Use inclusive language as the default
Use parent or caregiver when the family structure is not known. Review forms, assignments and routine communications that assume every child lives with biological parents. Inclusive language removes unnecessary explanations without reducing anyone's family role.
Ask once about authority, then record it properly
Caregivers should not have to repeatedly prove that they are allowed to receive information or make decisions. Ask what custody, guardianship, GACP or other documentation applies, record it in the appropriate system and identify when it needs to be reviewed.
Protect privacy
Professionals may need enough context to understand trauma, contact arrangements or authority. They rarely need the full history of the parent's substance-use problems, criminal charges, mental health, court disputes or other sensitive information. Do not make the child the messenger between adults.
Understand the caregiver load
Kinship caregivers may be managing employment, retirement, their own health conditions, reduced income, multiple appointments, conflict with adult children and parenting responsibilities simultaneously. Missed appointments or incomplete paperwork may reflect overload rather than indifference.
Expect grief and loyalty conflicts
A child can be attached to the caregiver who provides safety and still love, defend or miss a parent who cannot currently care for them. Professionals should avoid language that forces the child to choose sides or treats affection for a parent as evidence that the placement is failing.
Service design should include lived experience
The strongest kinship programs are developed with caregivers, not only for them. Across Building GRAND-Families' work, recurring needs include clear information and referral, legal navigation, financial help, caregiver education, peer support and respite.
For schools
- Use inclusive forms and family language.
- Know the caregiver's legal authority.
- Offer Student Well-being Team support where appropriate.
- Do not require the child to retell private circumstances.
- Connect caregivers to financial or activity supports available through school.
For health and social services
- Explain consent requirements clearly.
- Recognize caregiver stress and secondary trauma.
- Coordinate referrals where possible.
- Use plain language and written next steps.
- Include the caregiver's lived knowledge of the child.
Building GRAND-Families educator resource
Building GRAND-Families has developed What Is a Grand-Family? educational material to help educators and other professionals understand these families. The organization can also discuss presentations, training and responsible research partnerships.
PEI and Canadian reference points
Use these for staff meetings, onboarding and service review.
10 Things Professionals Should Know About Grandfamilies
A quick introduction to the assumptions that commonly create barriers for kinship families.
Download PDFKinship-Friendly Organization Checklist
Review language, forms, authority, privacy, affordability, referrals and organizational practice.
Download checklistProfessional and community education
Use these practice guides to make schools, health services, workplaces and community programs easier for grandfamilies to use.
Understanding grandfamilies in PEI
Read Understanding grandfamilies in PEIHow schools can support kinship families
Read How schools can support kinship familiesHow health professionals can support kinship caregivers
Read How health professionals can support kinship caregiversHow employers can support kinship caregivers
Read How employers can support kinship caregiversHow community organizations can support grandfamilies
Read How community organizations can support grandfamiliesHow friends and family can support a grandfamily
Read How friends and family can support a grandfamilyWhat would a kin-friendly PEI look like?
Read What would a kin-friendly PEI look like?Grandfamilies & kinship care in PEI: the facts
Read Grandfamilies & kinship care in PEI: the factsIdentifying and engaging kin
Read Identifying and engaging kinChild and youth voice in kinship decisions
Read Child and youth voice in kinship decisionsKin-friendly family court practice
Read Kin-friendly family court practicePEI Kinship Support Navigation
See how PEI kinship support navigation worksProfessional referral to Building GRAND-Families
Read Professional referral to Building GRAND-FamiliesKinship-friendly intake and forms
Read Kinship-friendly intake and formsFirst 30 days professional support
Read First 30 days professional supportHealth discharge planning for kinship families
Read Health discharge planning for kinship familiesSchool handoff for a new kinship placement
Read School handoff for a new kinship placementKinship support group facilitator guide
Read Kinship support group facilitator guideWarm referral and follow-up
Read Warm referral and follow-upTrauma-informed communication
Read Trauma-informed communicationParental substance use & kinship families
Read Parental substance use & kinship familiesKnow a caregiver who needs help finding the right starting point?
With the caregiver's permission, professionals can make a simple navigation referral without sending the child's case file, medical records or detailed family history.
You do not have to know which system to call first.
Tell Building GRAND-Families what you are trying to sort out and we help point you toward reliable information and services.
Use the FASD guide that matches the problem in front of you.
Supporting kinship families affected by FASD
Strengths-based, concrete, sensory-aware and coordinated professional practice.
Open professional FASD guideBuild conditions around the child that support wellbeing, not only referrals around the crisis.
Building protective factors in kinship care
Use Canadian evidence to strengthen safety, relationships, school connection, community, identity and caregiver support.
Open professional guideHealth and dental visits after trauma
Use predictable, youth-informed, trauma-informed communication around health care.
Open caregiver health guideConnect with Mi'kmaq-led services instead of making the caregiver translate every system.
Supporting Mi'kmaq kinship families
Family PRIDE, Jordan's Principle, cultural continuity, placement priorities and warm referrals for PEI professionals.
Open professional guideFamily, community & culture
Understand the Canadian legal principles behind cultural continuity and family connection without speaking for the community.
Open cultural-continuity guideSchools and youth services need a response for sextortion, intimate images and AI deepfakes.
Professional response to image-based abuse
Protect youth privacy, preserve useful information without circulating sexual images, coordinate reporting and build a school safety plan.
Open professional guidePEI cyberbullying school response
Caregiver-facing guidance can help staff understand what families need from the school after an incident.
Open PEI school guide