KINSHIP CARE
Georgia General Assembly Grandparents Raising Grandkids and Kinship Care Study Committee, headed by House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, is collecting testimony from grandparents and other relatives.
Comments can be posted at: kinshipcarega.com, also at 404-656-5058; kinshipcareGA@gmail.com; 18 Capitol Square S.W., Suite 609, Atlanta, GA, 30324.
RESOURCES
Georgia’s Division of Family and Children Services regional kinship navigators connect grandparents and relatives with information, support and assistance they need. For more information, contact your county DFCS office.
Other support organizations in metro Atlanta:
Georgia Family Connection Partnership, 404-527-7394, gafcp.org
Project GRANDD (Grandparents Raising and Nurturing Dependents with Disabilities), 404-303-5123
Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University, 404-413-1118, phg.snhp.gsu.edu
Kinship Care Resource Center in Jonesboro, 770-473-5788, claytonseniors.com/senior-center
Kinship Care support groups in metro Atlanta:
Atlanta Regional Commission, 404-463-3524, atlantaregional.com
AgeWise Connection, 404-463-3333, agewiseconnection.com
Legal resources for adoption, guardianship, child support and related issues (free services):
Georgia Senior Legal Hotline: metro Atlanta, 404-657-9915, georgialegalaid.org/organization/georgia-senior-legal-hotline
Atlanta Legal Aid Society: 404-524-5811, atlantalegalaid.org
Georgia Legal Services Program: 800-745-5717, glsp.org
Source: kinshipcarega.com
Grandparents raising grandchildren is a fast-moving concern among advocates for seniors and caregivers in general.
In Georgia, an estimated 100,000 grandparents are doing just that. And these are just the ones who ask the state for help. Many fall under the radar for a variety of reasons. Either they don’t need government services, or don’t qualify, or don’t want others to know about their family situation, said Thom Snyder, Georgia Department of Human Services aging services coordinator.
Supporting these family caregivers has its own complexities, largely because of the broad and changing nature of the group.
Trending are both younger grandparents — some still in their 30s — and older grandparents in their 70s and 80s, Snyder said.
And a new phenomenon among elderly grandparents is that the grandchildren in their care are actually caring for the grandparents. “I don’t think anyone has figured out how to address this,” Snyder said.
Other relatives and family friends are also increasingly in the mix as caregivers. Georgia has distinguished them as Kinship Care.
Kinship Care support groups have been formed to help relatives step into this role, said Tacia Estem, Kinship Care Community Liaison Unit director with the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. Classes are offered on topics like parental skills, computers and dealing with stress. Kinship advocates help caregivers navigate the system and get the help they need.
Grandparent caregivers also cover a diverse spectrum racially, economically and regionally. They can be found in small Georgia communities as well as urban settings.
And there’s no common reason for these caregiving situations. The perception is that it’s all drug- or violence-related, Snyder said, but for a lot of families, it could be because of a death, military deployment, medical reason or economics.
Yet, they all seem to share one characteristic: It was unexpected.
“It’s a sudden change in the family. It all changes with a phone call,” Snyder said. “The vision of what you’re going to do in retirement all of a sudden changes and changes dramatically.”
The situation has the attention of state legislators. The Grandparents Raising Grandkids and Kinship Care Study Committee has held meetings statewide through the summer and fall to assess what barriers these caregivers face and how the state can help.
Led by House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, D-Atlanta, the group will wrap up with a final meeting 6-8 p.m. Nov. 12 at an Atlanta location that has yet to be determined. Those interested can get an update from the website, kinshipcarega.com. Caregivers can also post their own testimonies and comments on the website.
Abrams said she has been moved by hearing from these grandparents, most of whom are on fixed incomes and were not anticipating having young children in the house again, but who stepped up to help in a time of family crisis.
It’s also a personal issue for the legislator. Ten years ago, her parents, who live in another state, took in a granddaughter to raise. Abrams said she and a sister, both attorneys, had a difficult time helping their parents navigate through the complexities of government agencies and the legal maze to make it work.
Abrams said statistics show that children fare better if they are raised by relatives as opposed to foster care or group homes. It also saves the state money, she said. The committee will determine what to do with the fact-gathering, but Abrams said she anticipates legislative proposals that will untangle some of the legal and financial issues faced by grandparents who take in their grandchildren.
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