GRAMMY HELP IN CALIFORNIA

This morning’s mail brought a disturbing comment from a grammy in California. I am not sure I should publish the comment and I don’t know how to contact her personally, so I am going to try to comment here. She and her husband have had legal custody of three grandchildren from Virginia for five years. She lives in California. They are raising the children in their elder years without any financial assistance even though the children came through the social services system. I hope she will return to the blog and perhaps catch this post which may also be of help to other families.

Grammy, first I know it doesn’t mean much when you feel so frustrated, but I applaud you and your husband for the support and love you have given these young children. I think you need an ombudsman or some other advocate to help you. Please take a moment to write down what it is you specifically need. Then write down what the barrier is to getting this need. Then consider contacting the Grandparent Project in California at 800-222-1753 or e-mail your question through their website www.seniorlegalhotline.org .

There is an agreement between all 50 states called the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) which may be a tool to get the two states involved to assist you. I know that money is a grave problem and you certainly don’t want to be spending a lot on attorney fees or cross country transportation. Please call the Grandparent Project, a legal resource specializing in issues like these. I hope you will send another comment to the Kincare Blog to let us know if this was helpful.
In the meantime our thoughts are with you on this big issue in your lives.
Tita

KINSHIP HEALTH INSURANCE ISSUES

When grandparents or other relatives take on the care of a kinship child a number of critical issues appear. One of the most frustrating for many families is health insurance for the child. Unless some legal health coverage arrangements have been documented with the parents, relative caregivers are usually responsible for the health care costs of children in their care.

Children in the Relative Foster Care programs receive Medicaid. That covers about 15% of the children raised in kinship care.

Grandparents who choose to go to their State’s social services agency can apply for one of two types of services:
1. the Child Only Grant which does not scrutinize the caregivers income. Child Only Grant caregivers receive a small amount of support funding and a Medicaid card for the children.
2. public assistance which is funding to eligible (income based) caregivers for managing the household, AND a Medicaid card for the children.
Though financially struggling, grandparents and other caregivers do not choose public assistance because the public agency is required to seek money from the parents to offset the costs. This often causes a great deal of dissension in an already troubled family, a wedge grandparents especially want to avoid.

The Medicaid card is a valuable tool for children because it not only covers medical issues, but also preventive care and in some cases special needs issues.
Other options:
- If a kinship family has a moderate income but the child for some reason is denied Medicaid, most states offer the States Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) funded by Congress through a variety of public health programs. For a small amount of money - $5 a month – a basic health insurance can be obtained for low-income working families.
- Families that are not income eligible for such programs often face challenges with their own insurance companies. Most health insurance institutions cover only birth or adopted children in the home – not power of attorney, guardianship, or even court ordered custody.

When relative caregivers assume the care of children who are in need of therapy or serious medical problems they are forced to look at a variety of possible options, none of which come easy. With 6 million children in relative care, most in need of adequate health coverage, this is an issue advocates, legislators, and private insurance providers must consider in the coming year.

Back to work!
Tita

Kinship Care Good Intentions

This year . . . yep, this year I'm going to do better. That's how it starts - resolutions to old frustrations. One of the goals for the new year is to write new blogs more often - at least once a week - on a timely kinship care topic. Many of you have commented to the blogs with wonderful thoughts and some deep questions, which tells me there is a need for this sharing. Thank you for all your encouragement.
I'm also going to give more talks this year about the issues in A Kinship Guide to Rescuing Children for Grandparents and Other Relatives As Parents, a book I labored over for so long. And we are going to improve the website www.chicagoroadpublishing.com . . . and find a reputable book distributor so that the book will be available in mainline bookstores . . . and we are going to follow up with personal notes to folks . . . clean the desk drawers . . . and bake cookies . . . oh dear, here goes that list again.
When we welcome our new President on January 20, 2009, a child of kinship care, I expect all of us to have our goals posted on the refrigerator and a new energy to accomplish our Good Intentions. For now here is wishing you a loving holiday season filled with peace.
Love,
Tita

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren - Preparing for the Recession

Though almost everyone is affected by the current economic crisis, there are some specific options relative caregivers should consider. After stretching family needs and dollar saving tips, kinship care families should take time to seriously check their financial resources:
1. In case of impending job loss, caregivers should prepare to register for unemployment benefits as soon as possible.
2. Social Security benefits including possible benefits for the children may need to be reviewed. Issues affecting social security include age, disabilities, and in the case of children – the death of a parent. Contact a social security representative for a review, www.ssa.gov .
3. Discuss financial options for relative caregivers with the local social services office. Social services can provide child only grants, guardianship, subsidized support, foster care, adoption, child care support, parental child support. Beware, however, all of these resources through the local social services have great big IF’s surrounding them. New federal legislation, Fostering Connections, has progressive options for some kinship families, but the rules are still in discussion. In Michigan, for instance, likely eligible families are suggested to hold off on acquiring guardianship because the new support may be for families who will become guardians, not those who already are. Oh my. If a family is already in the child welfare system, a review of the options available may need to be considered. Just because such issues are challenging, families should still investigate changes that could really assist through this current financial crisis.
4. Prepare for taxes and possible benefits as soon as possible this year. Talk with a tax attorney, Legal aid, or other tax preparer about changes in the family including kinship children and income changes to maximize the tax benefits for the family.
5. Check the AARP website for a number of ideas and resources. Especially valuable to kinship care providers is the Directlink service that covers dozens of areas of assistance and even offers some of the forms that can be filled out on line, www.aarp.org Go to Family then Grandparents then Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.
6. Local Kinship Care Resource Centers should plan now to have representatives from these sources share services information to relative caregivers in the region.
It could be tough in the next few months, but by working together we can make the road a little easier.
affectionately,
Tita

WHO IS TO BLAME?

In a recent discussion with grandparents raising their grandchildren the subject of, hang on, GUILT, came up with some very passionate responses. The dynamics impacting families are huge. Trying to determine who's fault when an adult child makes poor decisions that leads to kinship care of their children is like walking through a dense fog at night. We keep bumping into things that are almost impossible to understand. Why a young person chooses drugs or abandonment or selfabsorption with no room for the responsibilities of a child is very difficult to figure out. Such psychological journeys are individual and time-consuming. In the meantime, children need the safety and securing of a loving environment - now! When grandparents step in to provide the immediate need they are often confronted with the guilt of their own adult child's choices. Guilt is an incideous little devil that can eat away at our most powerful defenses.
The group discussing this dynamic was suddenly comforted by one grandmother's wisdom:
"I don't take credit for my children's accomplishments," she said, "so why should I take the blame for their difficulties?"
Something to think about.
Peace,
Tita

Kinship Care Center Scenario

Imagine this: you and several other relative caregivers, mostly grandparents, have been meeting at the local senior center with a little help from Senior Center staff. The Senior Center provides space, snacks, and guidance with inviting speakers to come to the group once in a while. From your conversations with each other you know you need to reach out to other kinship families. You know that some of you need specific help with legal or other human service issues, but no one seems to have the time to make such help happen. You know it is time to get specific leadership and a plan to make services happen.
Then you hear about the Brookdale Foundation grant proposals and you think maybe this could be a good launching point for your own local kinship care group.
You and other members of the group make a list of how you see your kinship care support group - your vision of your own local Kinship Care Resource Center with:

• 
  Regular meetings with experts offering assistance to kinship families. Topics include registering and helping children in school; making a strong financial plan including a will; dealing with taxes now that your family has expanded; when and how to seek guardianship or other secure authority for the children; dealing with angry or upset little ones; getting appropriate health care.
  


• Newsletters that reach out into your community about issues and resources of interest to kinship families.
  


• Services for relative caregivers such as assistance with social services, legal concerns, respite, counseling, and help with immediate needs.
  


• Someone to work collaboratively with other groups in the community on broader issues such as housing and transportation.
  


• Developing a library of resources for kinship families on a variety of issues including fetal alcohol syndrome, child abuse and neglect, HIV babies, grief, etc

Okay, you all say, the list is long – how are we going to make this happen?
For financial support like the Brookdale Foundation grant you must be a non-profit organization [501(c)(3)]. So you go to the Senior Center, which is already a non-profit, and request that they apply for the grant on behalf of the grandfamilies they are already assisting. You become part of a committee with the Senior Center staff that studies the guidelines from Brookdale Foundation to prepare the grant that will start the Kinship Care Resource Center in your community. You realize that the details of the grant such as matching community funds and a plan to continue the program after the two-year grant is completed are all part of making the Resource Center a valuable entity in the community.
You submit the grant before December 4 and hope that you will be one of 30 groups that are approved.
One of the important gifts of a seed grant, such as the Brookdale Foundation offer, is recognizing that working together in the community strengthens the group and all who support the project.
Learn about the Brookdale Foundation request for proposals at http://www.brookdalefoundation.org/ I hope all small kinship care groups can look at grant opportunities like this to develop an image of the local Kinship Care Resource Center, choose an appropriate non-profit organization to sponsor the Center, hire a coordinator and assure that local relative caregivers are receiving valuable services.

See the September 5 Kincare blog on Kinship Care Resource Centers.

affectionately, Tita

GRANDFAMILIES LEGISLATIVE VICTORY!!

News from Generations United, www.gu.org
September 22, 2008 the United States Senate unanimously passed the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 sending the bill to the President for his signature. The bill is bi-partisan compromise between the House and Senate that includes many of the provisions of the Kinship Caregiver Support Act. The bill is a significant recognition of the contribution grandparents and other relatives make in raising the nation's children.

Thank you to everyone for all their hard work in making calls, writing letters, and visiting with their legislators to pass this bill through Congress.Your stories brought this issue to life for your Members of Congress and inspired them to act.

The bill will provide supports for grandfamilies by:
Authorizing subsidized guardianship to enable children in the care of grandparents and other relatives to exit foster care into permanency
Establishing Kinship navigator programs to help link relative caregivers both inside and outside of the formal child welfare system to a broad range of services and supports that will help them meet the needs of the children in their care
Requiring notice be given to adult relatives of a child if he or she is placed in foster care
Allowing states in a demonstration program the option to set separate licensing standards for relative foster parents and non-relative foster parents
The bill also supports permanent families by:
Extending direct Title IV-E funding to tribal governments
Reauthorizing the Adoption Incentives Program, a critical tool in helping children become adopted.
Allowing states to receive federal reimbursement for support provided to foster youth up to age 21
Requiring reasonable efforts to keep siblings together
The president still must sign the bill and there will be significant work to implement the bill fully, but it is nonetheless a historic day for grandfamilies.

To see GU`s press release on the Fostering Connections to Success Act of 2008, go to http://www.gu.org/Lette6291248.asp

To read Donna`s blog entry on the Act, go to http://generationsunited.blogspot.com/.

For more information on the Act, go to http://www.gu.org/Polic7231752.asp.
Good news indeed!
love,
Tita