Kinship Navigators

Baltimore City Kinship Navigator Services is an information and referral program that supports kinship caregivers who are caring for their minor relative (s), who are unable to remain safe in the care of their parents. Kinship Navigator Services targets kinship caregivers who are and are not involved in the child welfare system as an outreach prevention strategy that promotes safety, permanency and well-being.

Baltimore City Department of Social Services has a designated Kinship Navigator for both informal and formal care who is available to provide services to relative caregivers. Kinship Navigators are knowledgeable about their community resources and available services.

Relative caregivers are encouraged to reach out to the kin navigators when you have questions or need guidance about processes or services. Below are the BCDSS Staff assigned to provide guidance and support to relative caregivers.

Informal Kin Navigator (Relatives with children who are not committed to BCDSS)

Nickia Bright (Informal Kin Navigator)

Since 1999 Nickia Bright has been working with Baltimore City Department of Social Services. Upon graduation from Coppin State, where she received a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work, she started working for BCDSS. She learned about BCDSS through a job fair at Coppin State.

“I am familiar with a lot of stuff in the city. A lot of the neighborhoods I was already familiar with, so why not work with the population that you are used to being around,” Nickia said.

Nickia has been well-versed in many different aspects of BCDSS, working mostly with Family Preservation. She was approached and asked if she would want to start working with Kinship Navigator cases when a previous Navigator had left the agency.

Nickia said that when she first started doing Kin Navigator cases it was difficult given the recent passing of her mother. She stated it was hard as she was getting a lot of cases where the child’s parent had passed away and she was still dealing with her own grief.

“I thought it was too much for me, and then I started thinking that this is a way for me to help those children with mourning and grieving, and making sure that they get the services that they need,” Bright said. “It was also helping me in my grieving process so I stuck around.”

At the Kin Care Center, Bright works with families that don’t want court involvement or are in the process of getting the courts involved. To contact Nickia for informal kinship services, please email: nickia.bright@maryland.gov

Demetrius Hicks (Informal Kinship Navigator)

It wasn’t supposed to be a permanent position when Demetrius Hicks came to work with the Kin Care Center as a informal care navigator towards the end of 2022. But when he was able to see and do the work, he realized it was a good fit for him for personal reasons.

Growing up, Hicks had parents in his life, but they did not truly raise him. Hicks for the most part was raised by his grandmother and his great-grandmother on his father’s side. His maternal grandmother was also involved, speaking with him on a daily basis.

“Everything that I needed revolved around them,” Hicks said. “They made sure that I had clothes and that I had food. They also made sure that if I had any health needs they addressed it, and they didn’t get any kind of benefits to do it.”

When Hicks came to the Kin Care Center he found it to be a blessing to help the kin families and to support them with whatever they needed. Hicks works as an informal navigator with families that don’t want court involvement or are in the process of getting the courts involved.

After graduating from Sojourner-Douglass College with a Masters in Human Services, Hicks started his professional career working with children as a correctional officer at a children’s detention center. He initially joined BCDSS working in Out-of-Home Placement for Foster Care.

Hicks worked in Foster Care for around 8 years before moving to Family Preservation in 2015. Based on his work in Family Preservation, Hicks was given the opportunity to assist with KinCare Center cases.

“Starting off I didn’t really see the vision because I was still in Child Protective Services mode, but as I started to work with some of these families and some of these cases, I really fell in love with it because it always helps me remember that I didn’t have any help growing up,” Hicks said. “Sometimes it is not about being a social worker, it is about helping people and getting the response that you have made a difference.”

To contact Demetrius for informal kinship services, please email: demetrius.hicks@maryland.gov

Formal Kin Navigator (Relatives with children who are committed to BCDSS)

Tracie Cook-Thomas (Formal Kinship Navigator)

Tracie Cook-Thomas has been with the Kin Care Center since it opened in September 2022, but has been working as a Kinship Navigator since before the pandemic in 2019.

After attending the University of Maryland and Sojourner-Douglass College Tracie received a Bachelor’s degree in Human Services. She started her professional career at Baltimore City Public Schools doing data monitoring and compliance for special education.

After her time at Baltimore City Public Schools, Tracie was working in billing for some social workers. It was through that job that she was able to make a connection with the director of BCDSS at that time. Using that connection Tracie made her way to Baltimore City Department of Social Services in 2009 starting as a Family Service Case Worker Trainee.

She was a part of a large family so she believes that she didn’t really have a choice about being anything other than a social worker.

“I was born smack dab into the middle of a whole lot of people with different personalities and challenges and issues and so I learned how to handle people early on,” Tracie said.

Being born and raised in Baltimore, Cook-Thomas stated that Kinship Care is important for the restoration of families and keeping families together. She works primarily with kinship families where the court has been involved in the removal of the child.

Cook-Thomas believes she is in a privileged position being able to help kin and help them to do what they do all of the time. To strengthen them and to let them know that they are not by themselves.

“Baltimore has gone through a lot, so if we can keep families together then we can keep neighborhoods together and we can keep communities together,” Cook-Thomas said. “It is an investment in the families of Baltimore. Kin always steps up to do what they can whether we are involved or not.”

To contact Tracie for formal kinship services, please email: tracie.cook-thomas@maryland.gov

Andre Bisimwa (Formal Kinship Navigator)

The freshest face to the Kin Care family is Andre Bisimwa, who was just hired full time after interning with the KinCare Center for the last year. A recent graduate, Andre received his Masters in Social Work from University of Maryland, Baltimore. Andre also has a double major in Psychology and Philosophy for his Bachelors from Goucher College.

Andre got involved with the Baltimore City Department of Social Services because he feels as if the city gets a bad rap.

“I think that Baltimore has had its own challenges. Personally, as a black male, because for one reason or another they have been deemed challenged, if I as a black male ran away from that then how am I expecting other people to come and help them,” Andre said. “If I say that my own people are too much, then how do I expect other people to come and be that source of hope or to help them navigate through this.”

Andre also wanted to get involved with BCDSS after being on the other side of what the organization does. He came to the United States as a refuge, spent some time being homeless and spent seven years as a foster youth.

“I had the privilege and I got lucky to have two amazing foster parents in Bethesda, a very affluent community, and I saw a difference in development because of having extra resources,” Andre said.

Andre believes that having the Kin Care Center is important because keeping children with kin will provide more stability in their lives, instead of having them in foster care where moving around and having to make new relationships happens frequently.

Andre works with kinship families where the court has been involved in the removal of the child. To contact Andre for formal kinship services, please email: andre.bisimwa1@maryland.gov

To be connected to any of our Kin Navigators, please visit or call the KinCare Center. The center can be reached by phone at 443-423-5442 or by email: bcdss.kinshipnavigator@maryland.gov. The KinCare Center is located at 2923 E. Biddle St. and is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Informal navigators can be reached through the CPS hotline 410-361-2235. The screener will forward your information to the informal kinship navigator.