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 Maine
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 |
| Maine |
13,053 |
5,074 |
| Portland
city |
675 |
257 |
| Lewiston
city |
319 |
115 |
| Augusta
city |
109 |
23 |
*These
data are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau Table DP-2. Profile
Selected Social Characteristics: 2000.
Kinship
Care Initiatives in Maine
In Maine,
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 Kinship
Care Network: The University of Maine Center on
Aging and School of Social Work in collaboration with Family
Connections offers information and resources on support groups
for kinship caregivers that focus on mental health and substance
abuse issues within kinship care families. The Center
spearheads a Statewide Task Force for Kinship Caregivers,
the Statewide Relatives as Parents Mental Health and Substance
Abuse Task Force, that focuses on the issues of alcohol and
drug abuse, developmental disability, and mental health.
The Task Force provides statewide conferences and an electronic
Listserv/website to promote communication, information, and
resource exchange with constituencies across the state.
Contact: Sandra Butler, Associate Professor, at (207)
581-2382 or sbutler@maine.edu; Lenard Kaye, Professor
of Social Work, at (207) 581-3483 or len.kaye@umit.maine.edu
or Barbara Kates, Director of Family Connections, at (207)
941-2347 or bkates@kinshipconnections.org.
Comprehensive
Support for Kinship Care Families: Family Connections
is a joint project of the Adoptive and Foster Families of
Maine (AFFM) and Families and Children Together (FACT) sponsored
by The Brookdale Foundation and the Maine Department of Human
Services. Family Connections offers a kinship care warm-line
for support, information, and referral services (1-800-833-9786),
an extensive library, kinship care support groups around the
state, and assistance in navigating social service systems
and managing children with special needs. It offers
training in legal, financial, and children’s advocacy issues,
mental health consultations, and conferences. Family
Connections also offers training and consultation to other
organizations serving kinship care families. Contact: Bette
Hoxie, Program Director, AFFM, at 1(800) 833-9786 or affm@aol.com
or Barbara Kates, Director, FACT, at (207) 941-2347 or bkates@familiesandchildren.org.
Comprehensive
Support for Older Caregivers: The Maine Area Agencies
on Aging and the Bureau of Elder and Adult Services provide
information and assistance to adults 60 and older. Caregiver
Resource Specialists, funded by the National Family Caregiver
Support Program, are available to provide individual counseling
and support to help grandparents and other relative caregivers
in making decisions and solving problems relating to their
caregiving roles. Elder Advocates at the Area Agencies
on Aging can conduct a comprehensive assessment, discuss options,
and assist grandparents and other relative caregivers in obtaining
public benefits to which they may be entitled such as Healthy
Maine Prescription, Low Cost Drug Card, Tax & Rent Refund,
Food Stamps, Medicare Savings Programs, Medicaid, as well
as other programs and services for older adults. Contact:
Bureau of Elder and Adult Services, at 1-800-262-2232.
Grassroots
Support for Caregivers: Angel on My Shoulder is an organization
started by a grandmother raising her grandchild to help others
in the same situation. The organization offers a 24-hour
crisis hotline, support groups for grandparents raising grandchildren,
information and referrals, and emotional support in court
proceedings. The organization also educates the local
media about the problems facing kinship care families.
Contact: Marijane Vincent, P.O. Box 670, North Berwick,
ME 03906 at (207) 676-9621.
Caregivers
Supporting Caregivers: York County Grandparents Raising
Grandchildren provides a support group, information and referrals
and teaches basic advocacy skills to kinship care families.
The group helps caregivers answer legal questions, find financial
assistance, and work on improving relationships with social
service providers. Contact: Barbara Oppliger at (207) 967-3025
or joppliger@adelphia.net.
Kinship
Care and Maine’s Foster Care System
Sometimes
children in the care of the states are placed in foster care
with grandparents or other relatives. In Maine, the
Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child and Family Services
reports:
Number
of children in kinship foster placements: As of March
2002, 3,100 children were in out-of-home placements under
the Department’s supervision. Of these children, approximately
15% were placed with kin.
Preference
for kinship placements: State law and policy require 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 have to meet the same
licensing standards and receive the same foster care payment
rate as non-kin foster parents. Eligible kin also may be reimbursed
for caring for children under the Department’s supervision
without being formally licensed, as long as basic health and
safety standards are met. DHS provides foster
care and adoption training through the Maine Child Welfare
Training Institute. Contact: Leslie Rozeff, Director for Adoptive,
Foster Family, and Provider Training, at (207) 626-5218 or
leslie.rozeff@state.me.us. The Institute’s website
is http://www.cwti.org.
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. Maine currently
does not have a subsidized guardianship program.
State foster
care contact: Questions about kinship foster placements
should be directed to Sandi Hodge, Director of Child Welfare
Practice and Policy, Department of Human Services, Bureau
of Child and Family Services at (207) 287-5060 or sandra.s.hodge@state.me.us.
Public/private
partnership to encourage placement with kinship care families:
The Maine Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child
and Family Services in partnership with two private child
placement agencies, has developed a pilot program to speed
the assessment of potential relative caregivers for children
under the Department’s supervision and to expand the range
of supports for these kinship families once the placement
occurs. Beginning October 2002, two additional offices
will offer this program. Contact: Sandi Hodge, Director of
Child Welfare Practice and Policy, Department of Human Services,
Bureau of Child and Family Services at (207) 287-5060 or sandra.s.hodge@state.me.us.
Child abuse
prevention and awareness: The Maine Association of Child
Abuse and Neglect Councils advocates and educates to prevent
child abuse. The organization provides information to
all parents and caregivers, including grandparents and other
relative caregivers in Kennebec County. Contact: Staci Fortunato,
Executive Director at (207) 626-3428 or augusta@familiesfirstcan.org.
Other Supports
for Maine 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 Maine’s
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 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 1-(800) 442-6003
or log on to http://www.state.me.us/dhs/bfi.
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 Maine’s Medicaid
and Cub Care 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
1-877-KIDS-NOW or log on to http://www.state.me.us/dhs/bfi/cc_menu.htm.
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:
Standby
Guardianship (ME REV. STAT. ANN. tit. 18-A, §§ 5-202,
5-204): This law allows a parent who is in fear of an
imminent threat to his or her health to appoint an alternate
or standby guardian to care for his or her child. The
guardian must accept this appointment for it to be valid.
Limited
Guardianship (ME REV STAT. ANN. tit. 18-A, § 5-105):
This law allows courts to grant limited guardianship whereby
the guardian takes custody of the minor but does not have
the full range of authority of a guardian. It is up
to the court to determine the exact nature of the guardianship
relationship.
