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 |
| Kansas |
35,274 |
17,873 |
| Wichita
city |
5,949 |
3,303 |
| Overland
Park city |
1,174 |
369 |
| Kansas
City city |
4,643 |
2,210 |
| Topeka
city |
1,888 |
931 |
*These data
are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau Table DP-2. Profile
Selected Social Characteristics: 2000.
Kinship
Care Initiatives in Kansas
In Kansas,
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/.
Additional
state and national kinship care resources and supports
are available on the Generations United website at http://www.gu.org,
and GrandsPlace at http://www.grandsplace.org and
Grandparent Again at http://www.grandparentagain.com,
two websites coordinated by grandparents raising grandchildren.
Statewide
Services for Kinship Caregivers: Kansas Children’s Service
League (KCSL) is a statewide organization that helps maintain
family ties during times of crisis by “placing children in
need of care with loving and capable relatives” inside and
outside the child welfare system. KCSL refers kinship
care families to its network of support groups throughout
the state and offers parenting education classes for relative
caregivers, foster caregiver training, kinship care resource
materials, and a crisis hotline. In addition, KCSL offers
assistance in starting a kinship care support group, facilitates
family group conferences, and offers legal assistance. It
also helps kinship care families to apply for financial and
medical services and find discounts and donations when needed.
Contacts: B.J. Gore at (316) 942-4261 X232 or bjgore@kcsl.org.
To reach the Youth and Families 24-hour crisis line, call
(316) 943-2243.
Information
and Resources for Kinship Care Families: The Kansas Department
on Aging offers information and services to grandparents and
other older relatives raising children, including assistance
in obtaining financial support and support group services.
Contact: Marva Williams at (785) 291-3357 or MarvaW@aging.state.ks.us
or Sharon Dabzadeh at (785) 291-3806 or SharonD@aging.state.ks.us.
Legal,
Emotional, and Spiritual Support: Caring and Sharing Grandparents,
Inc. is an advocacy and support group in Hutchinson.
Caring and Sharing provides numerous support groups on topics
such as raising grandchildren, grandparents who have been
denied visitation, and grandparents caring for children with
special needs. Caring and Sharing offers parenting classes
for grandparents and other relative caregivers and provides
legal and counseling referral services, guest lectures, and
a monthly newsletter on the topic of grandparenting and grandparent
custody issues. Contact: Judy Mitchell at (620) 663-4134,
or grandmajem@prodigy.net.
Intergenerational
Network: The Kansas Intergenerational Network (KIN) provides
support for intergenerational programs and organizations throughout
the state, including those who serve kinship care families.
KIN also sponsors an annual grandparenting conference that
focuses mainly on the needs of kinship care families.
Contact: Marcia Mitchell at (785) 242-7200 or heart_kin@hotmail.com.
Information
on Grandparent Visitation, Guardianship, and Adoption:
Kansas Elder Law Network (KELN) is an on-line resource concerned
with elder law and related issues providing information on
topics of interest to seniors and their advocates, including
grandparent rights, adoption, the National Family Caregiver
Support Program, and other kinship-related topics. KELN is
also affiliated with the Elder Law Services of Kansas Legal
Services and the Elder Law Clinic at the University of Kansas,
which provides legal representation to eligible seniors age
60 and older without regard to income. Legal services can
also be accessed through the Elder Law Hotline at (888) 353-5337.
Contact: Kim Dayton at kdayton@ukans.edu.
Family
Group Conferencing: Families KAN Program, a division of
the Wichita Child Guidance Center, helps to keep children
out of the foster care system by working with families before
a crisis occurs. The program helps parents and kinship
caregivers pinpoint problem areas and gain the financial,
emotional, moral, and community support they need to provide
a stable home for the child. Services offered include counseling,
legal support, social work support, in-home development services,
and information and referral services. Contact:
B.J. Gore, Kinship Coordinator, at (316) 942-4261 x232.
Kinship
Care and Kansas’s Foster Care System
Sometimes
children in the care of the states are placed in foster care
with grandparents or other relatives. In Kansas, the
Department of Social and Rehabilitative Services (“SRS”) reports:
Number
of children in kinship foster placements: As of September
2001, 6,356 children were in out-of-home placements under
the Department’s supervision. Of these children, 948 children
(14.9%) 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 Department’s care.
Licensing
for kinship foster parents: Kin can care for children
in the Kansas kinship foster care system in three ways.
First, they may be allowed to care for the child informally
in the home. In these cases, the home must be checked
by a state-affiliated agency. The agency will run a
background check on the prospective caregiver and conduct
a home walk-through. Kin may also be approved as a permanent
guardian. Permanent guardians must be approved by the
Kansas Department of Health and the Environment (KDHE).
Permanent guardians are entitled to a subsidy similar to foster
payments, but are not given the same legal and medical rights
and responsibilities as a foster parent. One can only
become a permanent guardian for a family member. Kin
may also be fully licensed as a foster parent. All foster
parents must go through the same licensing procedures, regardless
of kinship ties. Licensing is performed by KDHE, Bureau
of Consumer Health. Contact: Debi Hatfield at (785)
368-7015, or dhatfield@kdhe.state.ks.us.
Subsidized
Guardianship: In addition to foster care payments and
other benefits available to kin raising children in foster
care, some states also have subsidized guardianship programs.
Most of these programs offer ongoing subsidies to children
who have left foster care to live permanently under the legal
custody or guardianship of relatives. The Kansas Department
of Social and Rehabilitation Services (SRS) provides funding
for eligible children in the foster care system placed with
a relative in an approved or licensed home who has established
permanent guardianship. The subsidized guardianship program
information is laid out in SRS’s Program and Policy Manual,
dated January 1999. Contact: Patricia Long, Program Administrator,
at (785) 296-0918 or pal@srskansas.org.
State foster
care contacts: The Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation
Services (SRS) contracts with five private agencies with locations
throughout the state that handle the permanency placements
of the children in the foster care system: (1) The Farm, Inc.
(Emporia); (2) KVC Behavioral Health Care (Kansas City); (3)
Kansas Children’s Service League (Wichita); (4) St. Francis
Academy (Salina); and (5) United Methodist Youthville (Newton).
The agencies assess placement options and those specific services
that are needed to ensure a stable environment for the child.
The agencies may provide counseling services, legal support,
respite care, support groups, and other information and referrals
for foster, kinship, and adoptive families. Questions
about kinship foster care placements should be directed to
Marilyn Jacobson, Assistant Secretary for Child and Family
Policy, Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services,
at (785) 368-6448 or MLJ@srskansas.org.
Support
for kinship foster parents: Kansas Foster and Adoptive
Families (KFAF), the Kansas chapter of the National Foster
Parent Association, works in conjunction with local agencies,
companies, and the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation
Services (SRS) to supply supplemental food, educational supplies,
health training, clothing, support services and financial
aid to foster parents, including kinship foster parents, throughout
the state. Contact: Jene Hillyer at (877) 447-4100,
(785) 354-2765 or kfaf@networksplus.net, or log on
to http://www.kfaf.org.
In addition,
KVC Behavioral Health Care in Kansas City provides
a monthly support group for relatives raising kin who are
in foster care or at risk of entering the foster care system.
Caregivers receive an array of services including case management,
resource referrals, transportation assistance, education on
permanency options, and an invitation to the annual foster
family conference sponsored by the agency. Child care
is available during the support group. Contact: Brenda
Walker, Kinship Care Specialist, at (913) 621-4641 x255 or
bwalker@kvc.org.
Other Supports
for Kansas 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 the Kansas
Works program. 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
(785) 296-3959 or log on to http://www.srskansas.org/ees/ks_works.htm.
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 Kansas’s Medicaid
and HealthWave programs. In some cases, caregivers
may also be eligible for free coverage under Medicaid.
For more information about how to apply for these programs,
call 1-800-792-4884 (TTY: 1-800-792-4292) or log on to http://www.kansashealthwave.org.
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:
Medical
Consent (Kan. Stat. Ann. § 38-136, 137): This law
allows parents to sign a consent form authorizing a grandparent
or relative caregiver, or other third party to obtain immunization
on behalf of a child without obtaining legal custody or guardianship.
Standby
Guardianship (Kan. Stat. Ann. § 59-3036): This law
provides for temporary, emergency guardianship for a child.
Where the court finds that there appears to be a threat to
the health or safety of the child, a party may petition the
court to have a standby guardian or conservator appointed
for the child. The standby guardian will be able to
exercise the same rights and responsibilities as the parent
or legal guardian.
