GrandFamilies: Supportive Services and Successful Approaches A presentation by Generations United

1. GrandFamilies: Supportive Services and Successful Approaches A presentation by Generations United

3. 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

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

5. National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children • Improve quality of life • Provide resources, technical assistance & training • Educate policymakers and the public

6. 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

7. 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

8. How are they doing?

9. 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

10. 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

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

12. 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

13. “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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. “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”

19. “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?”

20. 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

21. Supportive Public Policies

22. 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

23. 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

24. 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

25. Pending Public Policies

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

27. 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

28. 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

29. Supportive Services

30. 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

31. 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

32. 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?”

33. Support Groups To address social isolation, loss and grief, stress, need for information “Other people don’t realize how hard it is…or how gratifying it is.”

34. Start small Frame as information sessions Ties that Bind Curriculum Brookdale Foundation seed grants formed network National Family Caregiver Support Program Support Groups-Model Programs and Resources

35. Respite Care • Brief, regularly scheduled OR sporadic, longer periods • Homes, residential, day care, churches, recreational centers, therapeutic, schools, camps

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

37. 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

38. Housing Barriers • Building/complex occupancy standards • Child welfare occupancy standards • Senior-only housing

39. Housing Specialized Housing for Relative Caregiver Families and Foster/Adoptive Families Grandfamilies House and at least 20 pending Generations of Hope-IL Communities of Care-MD

40. 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

41. Building Community Buy-in

42. COLLABORATE!

43. Messaging Research • 5 focus groups- New York and Louisiana • Grandparents and other relatives raising grandchildren • General public: voters males and females 50+ • Diverse

44. Language Tested Arguments for and against supporting grandparents and other relatives raising children Labels for grandparent- and other relative-headed families

45. Themes Tested • In support of the child • Keeping the family together • In support of grandparents/relatives (caregiver) • Impact on society • Directly confronting stereotypes