GrandFamilies: Supportive Services and Successful Approaches

A presentation by Generations United

About Generations United (GU)About Generations United (GU)

• National non-profit membership organization

• Founded in 1986 by:– Child Welfare

League of America– National Council

on the Aging– Children’s

Defense Fund– AARP

To improve the lives of children, youth & older people through intergenerational collaboration, public policies and programs.

National Center on National Center on Grandparents and Other Grandparents and Other

Relatives Raising ChildrenRelatives Raising Children• Improve quality of

life• Provide resources,

technical assistance & training

• Educate policymakers and the public

The Numbers• Nearly 2.5 million grandparents are raising

children (2000 U.S. Census)• 6 million children live with relatives with or

without parents in the home (2000 U.S. Census)• Of those, roughly 1/3 live with relatives with no

parent present• If even half of the children being raised solely by

relatives outside of the foster care system were to enter the system, it would cost taxpayers $6.5 billion

Foster Care• About a fourth of children in foster care are

with relatives (AFCARS 2001-2003)• 1 out of 14 children being raised by

relatives are in the formal foster care system

• 20,000 in foster care with relatives without a goal adoption or return to home

How are they doing?

Physical and Mental Health of Children

• Exhibit a variety of physical, behavioral and emotional problems to a greater degree than general population of children, often due to situations that caused them to be placed in a grandparents’ care.

• 66% have more than one medical problem- ie asthma, obesity, dental

• Very few studies about overall well-being compared to general foster care population

Environmental Factors

• 22% of children in Kinship Care multiple risk factors associated with poor outcomes for children- poorer, less formal education, 4 or more children, single caregiver

• Children living in families with multiple risk factors more likely to experience emotional and school problems

• Tremendous benefits often offset risks

““I realized this is the first year I realized this is the first year my grandchild has started and my grandchild has started and finished the year at the same finished the year at the same school…and she’s in the sixth school…and she’s in the sixth grade.”grade.”

Benefits

More likely to: • Stay with siblings• Stay connected to cultural and family

heritage• Stay connected even when they “age out”• Stay in same community/school system• Have fewer placements• Delay sexual behavior compared to general

foster care population

• “I can’t explain how great it was to be at grandma’s during those years, I think its important for kids to be with family members. It makes them feel better because at least they know them”

- Ashley, age 16, who along with her sister was able to stay with her grandmother while her mother was in treatment for methamphetamine abuse

Promoting Child Well-being and Permanency: What Works?

• Overarching Considerations• Staff Training and Collaboration• Promoting Permanency• Tapping into Supportive Policies• Effective Supportive Services• Promoting Innovation• Building Community Support

Overarching Considerations

• No blanket solutions or silver bullets- families are complex and unique

• Not just another form of foster care• Failing to provide culturally

competent/sensitive services can have significant impact on outcomes

• Much to be learned- beware of those who claim to have all the answers

Staff Training and Collaboration

• Provide information about unique needs of families

• Collaboration with:– law enforcement/ DEC partnerships,– courts, – aging organizations, – services for informal caregivers,– tribes

Promoting Permanency

• Myth that relatives don’t adopt• When presented all options, often choose

adoption • Subsidized guardianship when return to

home or adoption are not viable.– Honors wishes of a child may not want to

terminate parents rights– Respects tradition and culture– Andreah’s story

“I was ready to make a permanent commitment to my grandson but I was still going to be his grandmother, I was never going to be his mommy”

“My grandparents did all they could to make me happy, but it would have been better if it was just me and not me, them and a social worker?”

Subsidized Guardianship

• 38 States and DC have programs• Studies show federally funded programs

yield better permanency rates• Legislation pending to allow all states to

use IV-E for federal funding for subsidized guardianship

Supportive Public Policies

National Family Caregiver Support Program

• Information for caregivers about available services

• Assistance to caregivers in gaining access to services

• Organization of support groups and caregiver training

• Respite care• Supplemental services to complement care

provided by caregivers

National Family Caregiver Support Program

• Serves children in care of relatives 60 years or older

• Availability varies by state

• Call your Eldercare Locater for local Area Agency on Aging- 800-677-1116

• State Fact Sheets www.gu.org

LEGACY• Living Equitably-

Grandparents Aiding Children & Youth

• Signed into law in December 2003– $10 million for

demonstrations– Training for HUD staff– Study of housing

needs of relative caregivers

Pending Public Policies

Lifespan Respite Care Act(H.R. 3248, S.1283)

Lifespan Respite Care Act will:

• Establish grant program to assist family caregivers in accessing affordable, quality respite care

• Encourage states to enact state and local lifespan respite programs

• Improve coordination and dissemination of information on respite services

• Included in Ronald Reagan bill

Kinship Caregiver Support Act

• Funding for States to apply to develop kinship navigator help desks or hotlines

• Open up Title IV-E funding for states to use for subsidized guardianship programs

• Requires written notification to relative before child is placed in foster care

• Flexible licensing for kinship families

Supportive Services

Access to Information

• Survey showed information number one issue for caregivers

• No single federally- funded go-to place

• Services often fragmented and difficult to navigate

Information

• Kinship Navigator programs

• Ohio, New Jersey, Washington State, county and state-wide programs

• Pending legislation to provide federal funds to states and large metropolitan areas

Caregiver Training

• Flexible and culturally competent• “I will not leave my community, can you

come to me to do training?• “Honey, I don’t need your training”• Enrichment?• “Honey, when are you going to offer some

more of those enrichments?”

Support Groups

To address social isolation, loss and grief, stress, need for information

““Other people don’t realize how Other people don’t realize how hard it is…or how gratifying it hard it is…or how gratifying it is.”is.”

Support Groups-Model Programs and Resources

• Start small• Frame as information

sessions• Ties that Bind

Curriculum• Brookdale Foundation

seed grants formed network

• National Family Caregiver Support Program

Respite Care

• Brief, regularly scheduled OR sporadic, longer periods

• Homes, residential, day care, churches, recreational centers, therapeutic, schools, camps

““We feel like we’re being cheated We feel like we’re being cheated and we’re cheating our other and we’re cheating our other grandchildren that we’re not grandchildren that we’re not raising.”raising.”

Respite Care- model programs and resources

• Oklahoma Respite Resource Network- public/private funds to provide voucher

• Family Friends Program

• National Family Caregiver Support Programs

• Pending Legislation- Lifespan Respite Care Act

Housing Barriers• Building/complex

occupancy standards

• Child welfare occupancy standards

• Senior-only housing

Housing

Specialized Housing for Relative Caregiver Families and Foster/Adoptive Families

Grandfamilies House and at least 20 pending

Generations of Hope-ILCommunities of Care-

MD

Promoting Innovation

• Waiver Authority ended March 31st

• Discussion in Washington about changes in child welfare funding- balancing flexible and reliable funding

• Stay informed and help inform

Building Community Buy-in

COLLABORATE!

Messaging Research• 5 focus groups- New

York and Louisiana• Grandparents and

other relatives raising grandchildren

• General public: voters males and females 50+

• Diverse

Language Tested

Arguments for and against supporting grandparents and other relatives raising children

Labels for grandparent- and other relative-headed families

Themes Tested

• In support of the child• Keeping the family

together• In support of

grandparents/relatives (caregiver)

• Impact on society• Directly confronting

stereotypes