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 North Dakota
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 |
| North
Dakota |
4,645 |
2,547 |
| Fargo
city |
361 |
223 |
| Bismarck
city |
267 |
75 |
| Grand
Forks city |
203 |
105 |
*These
data are taken from the U.S. Census Bureau Table DP-2. Profile
Selected Social Characteristics: 2000.
Kinship
Care Initiatives in North Dakota
In North Dakota,
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.
Services
for Kinship Caregivers: Casey Family Programs provides
services for kinship caregivers in the Bismarck (including
the Standing Rock Reservation) and Fort Berthold areas.
Casey Family Programs offers three permanency option programs:
long-term foster care, subsidized guardianship, and post-adoption
services, all of which are available to kinship care providers.
These programs include ongoing case management and parent
support/education as well as financial supports and assistance
in accessing other community supports. Contact: Sandi Marshall,
Division Director (Bismarck), at (701) 222-8193 or sjmarshall@casey.org
or Darice Clark, Division Director (Fort Berthold), at (701)
627-4560 or dclark@casey.org.
Group Family
Conferencing: The Sacred Child Project at United Tribes
Technical College uses a multi-disciplinary approach to working
with Native American children, youths with serious emotional
challenges and their parents and kinship caregivers.
Sacred Child is a “wraparound process” which uses extended
family, community members, and religious, spiritual and cultural
advisors to assess the needs of the individual child and family
and then creates a treatment plan that will provide the best
care for the child. Contact: Deborah Paint at (701)
255?3285 (x389) or uttcsacredchild@hotmail.com.
Information
Line for Senior Caregivers: The North Dakota Department
of Human Services Aging Services Division offers several programs
that serve eligible kinship care families, including Family
Home Care which provides room, board, supervisory care, and
personal services for an elderly or disabled adult or child.
The Department also offers the Senior Info-line, 1-800-451-8693,
a free confidential service that provides information for
seniors who are providing full-time care for a loved one.
The Senior Info-line also has a website, http://ndseniorinfoline.com,
for senior caregivers, including grandparent’s and other relative
caregivers raising children. Contact: Nancy Shantz, Program
Administrator, Family Home Care, Information and Assistance,
at (701) 328-8910 or soshan@state.nd.us.
Kinship
Care and North Dakota’s Foster Care System
Sometimes
children in the care of the states are placed in foster care
with grandparents or other relatives. In North Dakota,
the Department of Human Services foster care program is supervised
by the state, but run by local counties. Each county
has a different office of social services, which offers counseling,
referrals, and other support, as needed to kinship care families.
Number
of children in kinship foster placements: As of 2001,
511 children were in out-of-home placements under the Department’s
supervision. Of these children, 150 children (29%) 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 have to meet the same
licensing standards and receive the same foster care payment
rate as non-kin foster parents.
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. North Dakota offers a subsidized guardianship program
that provides a subsidy to qualified relatives and non-related
caregivers caring for children in the child welfare system
between the ages of 12 and 18, after they have obtained guardianship
from the court. The subsidy is also available for children
under 12 if they are part of a sibling group, and children
over 18 if they are still in school. Prospective guardians
must undergo a complete home assessment. Criminal background
checks are conducted for all adults in the home. Contact:
Deb Petry, Director, Subsidized Guardianship Program, Department
of Human Services, at (701) 328-3581 or sopetd@state.nd.us.
State foster
care contact: Questions about kinship foster placements
should be directed to Jean A. Doll, Administrator, Foster
Care Program, Department of Human Services, at (701) 328-3587
or sodolj@state.nd.us.
Website
for foster parents: The North Dakota Department of Human
Services now has a website that offers resources for families
caring for children in the foster care system, including information
about foster parent qualifications, adoption opportunities,
and American Indian Fostering at http://www.ndfosterparent.com.
North Dakota
Foster Parent Association: For training and support for
foster parents, including kinship foster parents, contact
Rich Holm, President, North Dakota Foster Parents Association
at (701) 553-9137 or RichHolm@hotmail.com.
Other Supports
for North Dakota 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 North Dakota Training,
Employment, Education Management (TEEM) 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 1-800-755-2716
(in state only) or (701) 328-3513 or log on to http://www.state.nd.us/humanservices.
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 North Dakota’s Medicaid
and Healthy Steps programs. In some cases, caregivers
may also be eligible for free health coverage under Medicaid.
For more information about how to apply for these programs,
call 1-800-755-2604 or log on to http://www.state.nd.us/childrenshealth.
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
law may be helpful to kinship caregivers1:
Medical
Consent (N.D. Cent. Code § 23-12-13): This law includes
a list of those adults who may be consulted when medical treatment
is needed for a minor. Beginning with the child’s parent or
legal guardian, “grandparents of the patient who have maintained
significant contacts” with the child are also listed among
those who may be provide informed consent if a parent or legal
guardian is not available
