In our most recent blog post, we told you about a new report that indicates grandparents and kinship caregivers may need more assistance to effectively raise young ones in their charge.
Millions of children in this country are being raised by their grandparents, other relatives or family friends. A recent report shows that children in these households typically fare better than when they are in foster care, but that doesn’t mean that these caregivers don’t encounter their share of challenges.
According to the recent report, titled “Stepping Up For Kids,” by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, these are a few of the problems that such caregivers are encountering. Here are a few of them.
• They are reluctant to apply for federal aid programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, because of the stigma. Some caregivers simply don’t know that such aid is available or that it could benefit them.
• Many of the children involved are coping with being separated from other family members. Many of them have been abused or neglected.
• Some kinship givers aren’t eligible for financial aid because some such programs are designed specifically for foster parents and not kinship givers or grandparents.
• They run into legal issues regarding medical care or enrolling children in schools.
Clearly, there are far too many challenges for kinship givers such as grandparents. Hopefully with a better understanding of the situation, more programs will be able to provide assistance so that people know they don’t have to go it alone.
Source: Fox News, “Report: More support needed for kinship caregivers,” May 23, 2012