The Grandparents' Burden:
Easing the Troubles for Kinship Care Families

Aired June 22, 1999

This is INFOhio After Nine, I'm David C. Barnett, welcoming you to June 22nd, 1999. We start things off with the slowly burning issue of welfare reform, an issue that gets hotter as we here in Northeast Ohio face state deadlines for moving thousands of people from welfare to work. Ohio representative Barbara Boyd will join us with details on some new legislation she's working on in Columbus, but first let's consider the impact of how increasingly grandparents are becoming the last buffer between children whose parents won't or can't raise them and a precarious future. For low-income families on welfare, even the present can be uncertain, as grandparents and other kinship caregivers try to cope with the high costs of child rearing. But, as 90.3's Karen Schaefer reports in our series, "the Changing Face of Welfare," new state initiatives may help ease the burden for Ohio's kinship care families.

Karen Schaefer–According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately two-and-a-half million of the nation's families are now headed by grandparents, who have one or more of their grandchildren living with them. That's a 19% increase since 1990, and the numbers continue to grow. But information about resources and support systems for grandparents and other so-called kinship caregivers has not kept pace with the rapidly-expanding population of these families. Two weeks ago, we heard from a Cuyahoga County grandmother, who was told she had to go back to work under the Ohio Works First program in order to receive welfare benefits for her two grandchildren.

Faye–Right now, my kids are 11 and 5, and they're telling me that they're entitled to 36 months of welfare, which we have 10, 16 months left, and after that they get nothing else. And you know, I've asked them, I said what do I do with my grandchildren, am I supposed to put them in foster care?

KS–The short answer is no. In fact, Crystal Allen, of the Public Children's Services Association, which works with all 88 of Ohio's county-based welfare-to-work programs, says the children's grandmother need never have gone on welfare in the first place.

Crystal Allen–The current requirements have been very confusing. We have sent out a strong public policy message, both from the public and policy makers and administration to say, "get people to work," and that's what our local self-sufficiency coaches across the state are doing. Unfortunately, this was an individual case that should not have been required for that adult, the grandmother, to sign on to a self-sufficiency contract and to participate in work activities.

KS–Allen and other welfare experts say that children 19 or younger, living with relatives other than their parents, may receive cash assistance and medical coverage in their own right, and are not subject to the time limits or work requirements of adults.

CA–For an assistance group of three people would be, the amount would be $362 a month, and once that caretaker leaves the assistance group, the two children would receive $296 a month.

KS–At the Lorain County Department of Human Services, administrator Dolores Ack says welfare families headed by grandparents may actually have it easier than traditional households.

Dolores Ack–In these non-parent caretaker groups, these folks are in a slightly better position than a parent caretaker who gets a job, because they get to use-none of their money counts toward determining the eligibility of the children, so they have that earned income, plus the children continue to receive the OWF cash benefit.

KS–Although Ack says the family may see a drop in food stamps, which are based on total income, kinship care providers are entitled to access the same programs as parents, including child care assistance. But registering for those programs may be difficult for grandparents and others whose custody of a child is informal. Doug Muir of Lincoln Counseling Services in Elyria believes kinship care providers need stronger advocacy.

Doug Muir–Often times, what you're trying to do is, there is no one, necessarily, to go to in order to solve the problem, and I can only imagine what it's like for a family who doesn't have a case manager, doesn't have a support person, doesn't have someone who's knowledgeable of the systems and the way things are supposed to work.

KS–Help for these non-parent families may be on the way. Crystal Allen says there is currently a proposal before the state legislature that would more closely define the rights and responsibilities of kinship care providers.

CA–Representative Barbara Boyd has really spearheaded an effort in the legislature to really clarify in law that children are eligible for cash assistance when they live with kinship caregivers, that that cash assistance comes with no strings attached.

KS–Allen says there is also a measure in the State Senate that would create a services program for kinship caregivers, providing some subsidized child care, respite care, legal advice, educational programs, and an information and referral hotline. But she says these are still uncharted waters, and as long as the number of grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles, and cousins caring for children continues to grow, families headed by kinship care providers will continue to need assistance. For INFOhio, I'm Karen Schaefer reporting from Lorain County.