They Call Me Momma:
Relatives Raising Children

Part 10

Aired December 3, 2001

For the first time ever, the U.S. Census Bureau took count of how many grandparents are raising grandchildren. The 2000 Census Supplementary Survey was mandated as part of the 1996 Welfare Reform law. It was prompted when welfare officials warned policy makers of the growing number of parents unable to care for their offspring. The survey's results suggest that more than two million grandparents nationwide are parenting their children's children. While this issue, known as kinship care, is slowly gaining more attention... in this final installment of our series, "They Call Me Momma," 90.3 WCPN®'s Renita Jablonski reports that relative caregivers and their advocates may need to make more noise in an effort to get their needs met.

Renita Jablonski–The numbers are well documented. There's no denying that kinship care arrangements are accounting for a growing number of non-traditional nuclear families. Often, when a grandparent or other relative is unexpectedly faced with becoming a surrogate parent, the financial implications can be devastating.

Jane Campbell–You know, you get to a point in your life where you think, okay, your major expenses are behind you...

RJ–Cleveland mayor-elect Jane Campbell.

JC–You might have an opportunity to, you know, your house is paid for, you can live in a, you know, can live with a little more freedom and now all of a sudden you have to buy school clothes and food and child care, and those are extremely high expenses that people haven't been saving for, they haven't been planning for.

RJ–During her time as a Cuyahoga County Commissioner, Campbell has been instrumental in helping organize a variety of county-based kinship care initiatives. For example, she fully supported the development of the county's navigator system. The program employs contacts throughout the area that relatives can call for advice and references to services available to them in the community in which they live. Campbell says as she prepares for her new role in city leadership, she plans on further addressing kinship care as an issue.

JC–There's no question that this issue needs to be continued, give continued prominence. We do have to get the state and federal policy makers to listen and to change their policy in order to recognize the contributions that these folks are making because we're talking about investing in our children, we're talking about investing in the future.

RJ–Campbell is not alone in her thinking that policy makers need to realize that children are at the heart of the matter. Rob Geen is with the Urban Institute, a non-partisan group based in Washington D.C. that examines economic and social policy. He says some lawmakers believe that family members have an obligation to take care of their own and thus should not receive any extra benefits.

Rob Geen–Deciding to give a payment less to a kins simply because they're not licensed, to me, does not make much sense because that child still has the same need whether they're with a relative or non-relative.

RJ–But it's hard to pin-point lawmakers who are vocally opposed to the idea of providing increased support to kinship caregivers. For example, numerous calls to the Ohio legislature did not turn up anyone willing to go on record saying that the current child welfare system is fine the way it is. Maple Heights grandmother Juanita Hohrn is raising three teenagers. She says regardless, the question is how to make the pleas of relative caregivers heard, and how to show lawmakers the new face of kinship care.

Juanita Hohrn–Years ago, it was while they were in the military, while your son or daughter was in another city working or in college, but now it's because of drugs, it's because of incarceration, different things like that, that we're not very proud of and we don't feel comfortable talking about. And so, we be quiet about it and we don't get out and let people know that we're there like we should.

RJ–But Rob Geen says it's not just the funding of kinship care that needs to be examined for inequities. He says if relatives better educate themselves about what's available, chances are they'll be able to take advantage of more services, more often.

RG–There are many different explanations which we could offer for why kin are receiving fewer services. One is that there's expectations of kin by caseworkers that are just greater, that they are moe obligated so they don't need the services. But at the same time, kin simply do not know what to ask for many times. Foster care parents have gone through a training program, they have become licensed as foster care parents, they understand the system. They understand what their roles , their responsibilities are and what the services available through the child welfare system are.

RJ–Juanita Hohrn reiterates that the only way maneuvering the child welfare system can get easier and provide more benefits is if kinship caregivers mobilize and let their message be heard - loud and clear.

JH–If I wanted to I could have said, "Well look, you know, they can just go to foster care. My daughter did this, let her suffer." I'm not going to do that. You know, human beings should not treat each other that way. We have to help each other. You know, we can do the other things we do with tax dollars such as fight wars and so forth. We can help children. So what we have to do, I believe is get out in large numbers and wake up these legislators and let them know, we are here, we're not going away, we need help.

RJ–Since at least the mid-90's, legislators have been hearing the words "kinship care." That's when the nation saw an alarming rise in drug abuse and when child protective services really started utilizing relatives as foster parents. People like Rob Geen say it's likely the number of kinship care arrangements in the country will continue to skyrocket in coming years. And considering the current economic situation in Ohio, and nationwide, chances are kinship caregivers will be further challenged in getting the support and funding they say they need.