Often rather than have the kids taken by the state, many grandparents step in to care for their grandchildren. Bette is a strong and passionate advocate for children and their families. The Grandfamilies State Law and Policy Resource . Although agencies are required to keep records, you should keep your own copies. She is dedicated to assisting members of the child welfare system and children and families separated by foster care, adoption, or kinship care to see the merit in maintaining healthy and meaningful connections. The new responsibilities of caring for children demand more of the kinship care provider's time, energy, and financial resources. In New York State, AARP has helped to enact laws that: allow relative caregivers to make important decisions regarding a childs health care and school enrollment; make it easier for grandparents to become foster parents, and give grandparents legal standing in certain custody proceedings. For more information, search our site, leave a comment, or drop us a line at admin@freefinancialhelp.net. Family and Community Service of Delaware County Website: www.fcsdc.org Phone: 610-566-7540 (Media office) Financial Help for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. They must contend with maintaining financial resources for their grandchildren, enrolling the children in school, accessing healthcare and insurance, and obtaining safe, affordable housing. Patrick Donavan has worked directly with kinship families for more than 15 years. The mission of the Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (SGRG) is to identify, promote, coordinate and disseminate information, resources, and best practices to help grandparents and older relative caregivers of children meet the health, educational, nutritional, and other needs of the children in their care, while maintaining their own physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Keep records of the dates and times you make phone calls. It's possible that the issues you may be facing will be new to the first agency you contact. The number of children in the household determines cash assistance amounts. She has more than 25 years of Early Childhood Education experience in state, local and federal government. The number of national, state, and local organizations that provide information and support to help kinship care providers continues to grow. Grandparents who have legal custody of grandchildren have several resources for financial assistance through government agencies, social service organizations and private foundations. She is co-chair of the Family and Matrimonial Law Committee of the Womens Bar Association, Western New York Chapter. To learn more about these tax benefits call the IRS at 800-829-1040, or visit IRS.gov. Again in this case financial help may be available . Also provides information on kinship adoption, financial resources, substance abuse, stress management, and advocacy for kinship families. Yvonne participates in her community as a mentor, advocate, and leader for at-risk youth. Your family and friends care about you and may be willing to help, but you may have to ask. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. Topics could include legal, financial, health, insurance, school, childcare, emotional, substance abuse, stress, and discipline issues for both the children and their adult caregivers. She is a sibling to an adult brother with developmental disabilities and been involved in disability advocacy her entire life. Help them adjust to the present situation by reminding them that they are living with someone who loves them and wants to keep them safe. This resource guide will tell you where to find the help you need. In some counties, human service agencies are coming together, sharing ideas and resources, and offering innovative services designed to support grandparents and other relatives raising children. A support respite experience for Western Pennsylvania kinship caregivers and the children ages 3 to 18 in their care. Such feelings often contribute to adversarial relations between the caregiver and the parent; such a state of affairs is typically not in the best interests of the child, particularly when the children are likely to have an ongoing relationship with their parent(s). Write down or record information rather than rely on your memory. What most people do not see is the isolation, stigma, sadness, fear, immeasurable sacrifice, or stress that a grandparent raising a grandchild in the midst of an addiction hurricane experiences. Request the names and phone numbers of other organizations that may help. Try to organize the group so it provides both an informal support (self-help) function as well as a bridge to formal services in the community. If you are not satisfied with the progress you are making, try calling at different times, or ask to speak to a supervisor if you can document that your efforts to go through the proper channels have been unsuccessful. Exchanging phone numbers or setting up a phone tree for emergencies or for personal support can be very helpful. The program provides homework help, tutoring, life skills and educational enhancement lessons, cultural and recreational activities, group counseling, and support group sessions for caregivers. Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC): The EITC is a tax credit for low or moderate-income grandparents raising grandchildren. If you care for your grandchild/grandchildren, you may be eligible for free medical and dental assistance from Medicaid. The information presented in this booklet was drawn from many resources, including the AARP fact sheet, Support Groups for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (2003), the Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising ChildrenPennsylvania State Fact Sheet (developed jointly by the Child Welfare League of America, AARP, The Brookdale Foundation, Generations United, and the Casey National Center for Resource Family Support), the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren in Pennsylvania: How Do Our Laws Work? If you are concerned about abuse and neglect, call your state's Child Abuse Reporting Number, which can be found at www.childwelfare.gov and ask them to look at your grandchildren's care. American Community Survey: 2003 Multi-Year Profile for United States. In the past week, LegiStorm added: 279 new people; 49 new organizations; 161 new photos; 565 job history records for people in our database; 222 education records for people in our database; 997 contact addresses, emails and URLs (LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Lawmakers are becoming increasingly aware of the extent of the kinship caregiving situation, and in particular, they are learning that this is not just an urban concernkinship caregivers reside in every county in Pennsylvania, not just in the big cities. Contact your local Area Agency on Aging at the Pennsylvania Area Agencies on Aging website to learn what services are available through the NFCSP. And, if you choose to legally adopt your grandkids, theres an Adoption Credit that provides a federal tax credit of up to $13,570. In earlier government roles, she served as Special Counsel for Olmstead Enforcement in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, leading efforts to enforce the rights of people with disabilities to live, work and fully participate in their communities. Support groups can be very beneficial to Pennsylvania families because: Contact the Area Agency on Aging in your community by visiting the Pennsylvania Department of Aging website or call your local information and referral service at 411. If a child has been placed into the foster care system, a family member can become a foster parent. Talk with others who are experienced in getting services. A custodial parent or legal guardian may designate a standby guardian by means of written consent unless the child has another parent or adoptive parent: (1) whose parental rights have not been terminated or relinquished; (2) whose whereabouts are known; and (3) who is willing and able to carry out the day-to-day child-care decisions concerning the child. In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails Dr. Lamont joined ASPE in 2007, after receiving her Ph.D. in aging studies from the University of South Florida. This is the first program in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to offer such services to kinship foster families through a private, nonprofit entity. Tammy Proctor, M.Ed., is the supervisory education program specialist for early learning in the Office of Innovation and Early Learning (IEL), Office of Elementary and Secondary Education (OESE) at the U.S. Department of Education (ED). Contact Pennsylvania Legal Services at 800-322-7572 or 717-236-9486. Other times, caregivers may feel so overwhelmed or depressed that a helping professional should be contacted. She also worked with the Niagara County Department of Social Services in Child Protection matters to avoid removals and reduce recidivism rates. The community-based intervention focuses on improving management of chronic disease during visits to the school-based clinic in the neighborhood. See InsureKidsNow.gov or call 877-543-7669 for more information. She is a published author and an entrepreneur founder and executive director of Trans4mation Now Inc., a 501(c)(3), and the G.E.M.S. His experience also includes serving as consumer outreach officer for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the director of public affairs for the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards, and as manager of government relations for the International Association for Financial Planning. Limiting the duration of visits in a month or determining which days or times should be avoided will . This can be because their children cannot take care of them because of substance abuse, incarceration, mental illness, death, or other reasons. For more information or to learn how to fill out the grant application, contact the New York State Kinship Navigator at: Senior Corps awards grants to nonprofit organizations, community agencies, institutions of higher education, government, and faith-based and tribal organizations to administer these programs to help meet the needs of their communities. This section explores what happens to adult and family relationships when a grandparent or other relative caregiver becomes the primary caretaker of children. You are not only a caregiver but a mentor to help the children avoid the pitfalls in life. She previously managed her familys private practice for 17 years. Ms. Proctor is responsible for the oversight and supervision of the daily operations, grant making, program implementation and monitoring and accountability activities for the early learning programs. Below are some of the benefit programs available to help grandparents raise grandchildren. She raised her 20-year-old grandson since infancy and currently provides kinship care to grandchildren ages 4 and 3. In addition to the financial assistance programs, there are also a number of tax benefits that may help you too like the Dependency Exemption, which allows you to deduct $4,050 in 2107 on each qualifying grandchild. 1-877-KinInfo or 1-877-454-6463 The Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and the RAISE Family Caregiving Advisory Council held their first joint meeting on January 25, 2022 to begin the development of the National Family Caregiving Strategy. Plan for a phone network. GrandFamilies Guide. . Guardianship suspends parental rights until the parent can prove to the court they can successfully care for the child/children. She manages a portfolio in demography and social epidemiology of aging as well as social genomics. If you need to flag this entry as abusive. If your grandkids need health insurance, depending on your income level, you may be able to get free or low-cost health insurance through your states Medicaid and the Childrens Health Insurance Program. This may hurt the child or they may model your behavior and start to talk about their parent in the same way. She is a trusted voice on Capitol Hill on issues related to grandfamilies and intergenerational cohesion, having testified before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging and in several briefings. 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