They Call Me Momma:
Relatives Raising Children

Part 8

Aired November 5, 2001

In Ohio, licensed foster parents receive almost twice the amount of money per child than what most kinship caregivers can get. At the same time a study by Cleveland State's Urban Child Research Center shows most relative caregivers are older adults on fixed incomes that cannot afford the cost of raising kids. Our in-depth series on kinship care has been examining several issues facing families caught in this situation. As "They Call Me Momma" continues this morning, 90.3 WCPN®'s Renita Jablonski explains that the central issue for many kinship care families is they simply do not have the financial support they need.

Renita Jablonski–Robert Pickering is babysitting two of his grandchildren. He's got his hands full, watching a five-year-old boy and a three-year-old girl. The kids have been living with Pickering and his wife in their west side Cleveland home for the last 15 months. Pickering says his life changed two summers ago, after spending a day at Six Flags amusement park.

Robert Pickering–We were talking about my eldest daughter turning 18 years old and we were talking on the way back how I was saying, you know, "I'm a free man" and my youngest one was going to be grown up already and when I pulled into the drive way, my daughter come running out, "Dad, they're going to take Michael and Ashley!" And I said, "What do you mean? What do you mean?" You know, I started asking her and they said that family services were coming out and taking the grandkids.

RJ–The children's father is Pickering's son. The boy and girl were living with their mother, but the county stepped in after several bruises were spotted on the children's bodies. Rather than having the kids go into the foster care system, Pickering and his wife decided to take them in. Jim McCafferty is Interim Director for the Cuyahoga County Department of Children and Family Services. He says when it comes down to it, there's very limited financial help available for the thousands of families in the state in situations much like Pickering's.

Jim McCafferty–In Ohio, by law, as a public entity, we're only able to pay licensed caregivers for children. The other caveat in that law is that besides a licensed caregiver, the only other individual we can really place with is a relative caregiver, but it's very specific that we cannot pay non-licensed caregivers for the care of children, the only reimbursement available is through TANF, and that's that child-only welfare.

RJ–That child-only welfare payment is about $223 a month, with a little more than $70 extra for each additional child.

RP–I am getting a check for both of the kids. I get a monthly, I get $305 a month for both of the kids.

RJ–On the other hand, if Pickering and his wife were licensed foster parents, that amount would more than double - starting out at $500 a month per child. McCafferty says in this way, current law is contradictory - it encourages looking to relatives first when it comes to placing children, yet more financial support and services flow to non-kin.

JM–And certainly if you're a young individual, it's a mother and father and they're both working and they're middle class in the suburbs, they may have enough money that they can take a kin child in and even though it's a burden, it's not a terrible thing. But if you're a grandparent who can live anywhere, you're on a fixed income, you take your grandchildren in, that means instead of just feeding yourself, or you and your spouse, you're now feeding three people or four people for very little money. I mean a hundred-some dollars a month per child goes nowhere.

RP–Now we have to save the money you know, to buy them clothing, you know, and we have to buy special shampoos for them and so...
Grandson: Toys! Toys!
Pickering: Yes, and toys.
Boats.
And clothing.
Boats.
No, not boats. And shoes, oh my goodness. They grow out of their shoes so fast. I don't see how some of these parents can afford to go out and buy them expensive shoes for them because I mean, they're like only in them a couple months.

RJ–Groups like the Ohio Grandparent Coalition are putting pressure on lawmakers, lobbying for subsidized guardianship to help kinship caregivers. Jim McCafferty says Cuyahoga County is working on its own push for a subsidized kinship care program. The program is part of an application for a Title IV-E waiver from the federal government.

JM–I don't want people to think though that this waiver is going to be, like we're just going to give it to the commissioners and it's going to go right to the state and be okayed by the federal government and it'll start next month or in the near future.

RJ–McCafferty says the process of simply submitting the waiver may take up to a year. Crystal Allen is Executive Director at the Public Children Services Association of Ohio. She points out that there are those that think kinship caregivers should not get extra subsidies.

Crystal Allen–Many people across the state, including many elected policy makers, really believe that families should not be compensated for caring for their family.

RJ–Robert Pickering says while he would love to have access to more funding, becoming a licensed foster parent is simply not an option. He's on social security disability and a wide range of medical problems prevents him from being able to go through the process.

RP–Like I say, medically I'm not in that great of shape and I couldn't make it through the classes. But I, we tried. It would have been a big help, it would have doubled the money, that's for sure.

RJ–According to McCafferty, there are approximately 1,900 children in the county that are currently in kinship care placements. He says since the system itself is unable to absorb the cost of adequately supporting every one of theses kids, the challenge is convincing the federal government that a placement is a placement.

JM–If we're going to pay a licensed foster caregiver, why shouldn't we be able to pay a relative caregiver who takes the children in as well.

RJ–But Crystal Allen says another roadblock to getting subsidies for kinship caregivers is the current economic downturn, affecting not only Ohio, but the nation as a whole.

CA–So to establish a whole new cost policy would be extremely challenging.

RJ–Allen stresses again, the only option right now for relative caregivers to get more money is to become a licensed caregiver. In Cleveland, Renita Jablonski, 90.3 WCPN® News.