Across
the country, more than six million children -- approximately
1 in 12 children -- are living in households headed by grandparents
or other relatives. The District of Columbia has
more than 113,000 children living in households headed by grandparents
or other relatives. In many of these households, grandparents
and other relatives are the primary caregivers (“kinship caregivers”)
for children whose parents cannot or will not care for them
due to substance abuse, illness and death, abuse and neglect,
economic hardship, incarceration, divorce, domestic violence,
and other family and community crises.
A Look
at the Numbers: Kinship Care in Indiana
The data below
show the numbers of grandparents who are living in households
with at least one grandchild under the age of 18, as well
as the numbers of grandparents who are the primary caregivers
for these grandchildren. These numbers were reported by the
2000 U.S. Census and are available for every place (as defined
by the U.S. Census Bureau) in the country, including cities,
towns, villages, and boroughs, on the U.S. Census website.*
| |
Grandparents
Living in Households with One or More Own Grandchildren
Under 18 |
Grandparents
Responsible for Meeting the Basic Needs of Grandchildren |
| Location |
# |
# |
| United
States |
5,771,671 |
2,426,730 |
| Indiana |
96,169 |
48,181 |
| Indianapolis
city |
15,152 |
8,141 |
| Fort
Wayne city |
3,483 |
1,832 |
| Gary
city |
4,679 |
2,408 |
*These data
are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau Table DP-2. Profile
Selected Social Characteristics: 2000.
Kinship
Care Initiatives in Indiana
In Indiana,
public and private agencies and grassroots coalitions of grandparents
and other relative caregivers have begun working together
to expand the services available to kinship caregivers who
are caring for children outside of the foster care system.
Several of
the major kinship care programs and supports are listed below.
Additional support groups can be found through the AARP Grandparent
Information Center Database. Call 1-800-424-3410, e-mail information
requests to gic@aarp.org, or search AARP’s online kinship
care support group database at http://www.aarp.org/grandparents/searchsupport/.
Statewide
Partnership for Kinship Care Families: The Indiana Bureau
of Aging and In-Home Services and the Purdue University Cooperative
Extension Service established The Relatives as Parents (RAPP)
State Initiative Program. The program, funded by the
Brookdale Foundation, initiated several kinship care support
groups across the state. It also formed the RAPP Steering
Committee with representatives from more than 39 state and
local service providers and agencies that serve kinship care
families to assess the needs of kinship care families.
The initial
focus of the Committee has been on providing information and
strengthening supports to kinship care families across the
state. A six-part workshop series, Raising a Family
Member’s Children, was developed for state employees who are
raising kin. Relatives as Parents: Answers to Basic
Concerns, a series of fact sheets, is also available.
The series contains information specific to Indiana on the
following topics: education, finances, legal services, medical
consent, medical services, mental health, and tips for working
with agencies. Copies have been distributed to agencies
and organizations in Indiana. In addition, the materials
are available on the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration
website at http://www.in.gov.fssa and the Consumer and Family
Sciences Purdue Extension Web site at http://www.cfs.purdue.edu/extension.
In partnership
with the University of Wisconsin Extension, Purdue Extension
co-developed two national videoconferences on grandparents
raising grandchildren, both of which included local sites
in Indiana. Contact: Carole Surratt-Bradley, Indiana
Bureau of Aging and In-Home Services, at 1-800-545-7763 or
csurratt-bradley@fssa.state.in.us or Dr. Dena Targ, Purdue
Extension, at (765) 494-2937 or targd@cfs.purdue.edu.
Kinship
Care and Indiana’s Foster Care System
Sometimes
children in the care of the states are placed in foster care
with grandparents or other relatives. In Indiana, the
Family and Social Services Administration reports:
Number
of children in kinship foster placements: As of June 2000,
there were 11,305 children in out-of-home placements. Of these
children, 1,345 children (13%) were placed with kin.
Preference
for kinship placements: State policy requires that kin
be considered first when an out-of-home placement is sought
for a child under the Administration’s care.
Licensing
for kinship foster parents: There is no separate licensing
program for kinship foster parents. Kin have to meet
the same licensing standards and receive the same foster care
payment rate as non-kin foster parents.
Assisted
Guardianship: In addition to foster care payments and
other benefits available to kin raising children in the foster
care system, some states also have subsidized guardianship
programs. Indiana has an Assisted Guardianship Program for
children under the Administration’s supervision who have been
placed with a relative who assumes legal guardianship of the
child. The program is generally available to eligible
children over the age of 13. The relative seeking legal
guardianship must also meet certain requirements (including
the ability to provide for all the child’s needs except for
the financial and medical subsidy). (Ind. Admin. Code Title
470 r.3-10-5). Contact: Stephanie Beasley-Fehrman, Indiana
Family and Social Services Administration, at (317) 232-4622
or sbeasley-fehrman@fssa.state.in.us.
State foster
care contact: Questions about kinship foster placements
should be directed to Stephanie Beasley-Fehrman, Indiana Family
and Social Services Administration, at (317) 232-4622 or sbeasley-fehrman@fssa.state.in.us.
Training
and support for kinship foster parents:
Support services for kinship foster parents are offered by
the Indiana Foster and Adoption Association. Contact: Christina
Morrison at (800) 468-4228 or (317) 920-2505. The Web
site is http://www.ifcaa.org.
Other Supports
for Indiana Kinship Care Families
Children raised
by kinship caregivers are often eligible for a range of state
and federal programs. In most cases, kinship caregivers may
apply for these programs on a child’s behalf even though they
are not the child’s parents or legal guardians. Some
examples of these programs include:
Cash assistance:
Cash assistance may be available to children and their grandparents
and other relative caregivers through Indiana’s Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Kinship care families
may also be eligible for food stamps to help meet their children’s
food and nutrition needs. For more information about
these programs, call (317) 232-4919 or log on to http://www.in.gov/fssa/families/tanf/index.html.
Health
insurance: Grandparents and other relative caregivers
may apply for free or low-cost health insurance on behalf
of the children they are raising through Indiana’s Hoosier
Healthwise program. In some cases, caregivers may also be
eligible for free coverage under Medicaid. For more
information about how to apply for these programs, call 1-800-889-9949
or log on to http://www.in.gov/fssa/healthcare/.
State Laws
and Policies
Sometimes
kinship caregivers find it difficult to obtain services their
children need, such as medical care or education. In addition
to the state’s child guardianship and custody laws, the following
laws may be helpful to kinship caregivers1:
Educational
Consent (Ind. Code § 20-8.1-6.1-1): This law states
that a caregiver may enroll a child in school without being
the child’s legal guardian. The caregiver must provide proof
that the child is supported by, cared for by, and living with
the caregiver. The caregiver also must sign a “Custodial Agreement
Form” indicating that he or she is responsible for the child.
Medical
Consent (Ind. Code § 16-36-1-5): This law states
that a person acting in place of a parent may consent to health
care on behalf of a child if no guardian has been appointed
for health care purposes or the guardian is unavailable, refuses
to act, or is unknown to the health care provider.
“De Facto”
Custody (Ind. Code § 31-9-2-35.5 et seq.):
This law applies to a grandparent or other relative who has
been the primary caregiver of a child for six months (if the
child is under three years old) or 12 months (if the child
is over three years old). Grandparents and other relatives
raising children who meet these criteria shall be entitled
to apply for custody and may be awarded custody if a judge
deems that to be in the best interest of the child.
