grandfamilies: supportive services and successful approaches a presentation by generations united
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GrandFamilies: Supportive Services and Successful Approaches A presentation by Generations United. 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. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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GrandFamilies: Supportive Services and Successful Approaches
A presentation by Generations United
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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
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To improve the lives of children, youth & older people through intergenerational collaboration, public policies and programs.
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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
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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
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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
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How are they doing?
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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
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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
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““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.”
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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
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• “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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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“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”
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“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?”
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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
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Supportive Public Policies
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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
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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
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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
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Pending Public Policies
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Lifespan Respite Care Act(H.R. 3248, S.1283)
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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
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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
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Supportive Services
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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
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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
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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?”
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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.”
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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
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Respite Care
• Brief, regularly scheduled OR sporadic, longer periods
• Homes, residential, day care, churches, recreational centers, therapeutic, schools, camps
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““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.”
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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
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Housing Barriers• Building/complex
occupancy standards
• Child welfare occupancy standards
• Senior-only housing
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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
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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
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Building Community Buy-in
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COLLABORATE!
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Messaging Research• 5 focus groups- New
York and Louisiana• Grandparents and
other relatives raising grandchildren
• General public: voters males and females 50+
• Diverse
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Language Tested
Arguments for and against supporting grandparents and other relatives raising children
Labels for grandparent- and other relative-headed families
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Themes Tested
• In support of the child• Keeping the family
together• In support of
grandparents/relatives (caregiver)
• Impact on society• Directly confronting
stereotypes