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Once you identify the family’s needs in the BASICS assessment and have identified how they would like to receive their referral binder, ask the parent or caregiver if they would like additional support. Navigators may offer any of the following additional support to families:
- Warm hand-off referrals
- You can offer to call an agency with a family on the phone, or call an agency on a family’s behalf to make the initial introduction
- Assistance with an application
- You can offer to assist a family with an application for a social service benefit (SNAP, childcare, SSI, etc.) virtually or in person if there are barriers to completing the application virtually
- Flexible Funds and Hard Goods
- If a family needs hard goods like clothing, beds, car seats, etc., for their kinship or adoptive children, you can offer to directly link families to organizations and agencies for short-term assistance in obtaining these items, and follow up support
- If you have exhausted all community-based options for a family to meet a need for funds or hard goods, you can apply for flexible funds and hard goods through OhioKAN
- See the flexible funds section below.
- Benefits coordination
- If the family has questions about eligibility, a benefits appeal process, or would like support with an application, or other benefits challenges that require more specialized expertise, you can offer to connect them with the OhioKAN Benefits Coordinator
- See the benefits coordination section below.
- In-person services
- In select situations, you can offer to join a family in a meeting with the child’s school, social worker, etc. in the community to provide extra advocacy for the family
- If there are barriers to providing virtual support, you may also offer to visit the family in their home to assist with applications, etc.
- See the in-person services section below.
- Collaboration with caseworker, state, or local agencies
- You can offer to coordinate with the family’s case worker, if they have one, or reach out to local/state agency contacts to advocate alongside them
If the parent or caregiver would like additional support, ask if they have time to complete a Support Plan or would like to schedule a different time to complete it. Provide a brief overview of what to expect in creating the Support Plan so they can make an informed decision.