Summer 2007 Volume 4, Number 2

Gateway Grandparent's Kinship Network Receives Grant

Elizabeth Reinsch, Ph.D., CSW, ACSW
Human Development Specialist
University of Missouri Extension
314-615-7605
ReinschE@missouri.edu

The Brookdale Foundation announced that the Gateway Grandparent’s Kinship Network of the greater St. Louis area was awarded a two year regional grant to educate community organizations, churches, schools and other agencies on the issues of relatives as parents. The Brookdale Foundation is a nationally known organization that has been in the forefront of bringing light to issues related to Relatives as Parents. For a number of years it has provided grants across the United States to help address these concerns.

According to the 2000 U.S. Census, the St. Louis Metropolitan area has over 32,460 children
under the age of 18 living with a grandparent or relative caregiver. In the city of St. Louis, 11.7% of children under 18 live with a grandparent or relative caregiver, and within St. Louis County 5.5 % of children under the age of 18 live with a relative caregiver. With the large number of reported relative caregivers in our area, more support groups are needed. These new support groups will aid in addressing issues and concerns of grandparents/relative caregivers and help them feel they are not alone.

A conference will be held in the St. Louis Metropolitan area this fall, 2007, to bring together
interested representatives from various agencies and organizations with the intent to establish a support group for Relatives as Parents. The conference will address issues and concerns of relative caregivers, discuss ways to establish support groups for this population, and offer technical support in setting up support groups. Agencies and organizations that send a representative to this conference will then be eligible to apply for a small seed grant to initiate a support group within their agencies or communities. The monetary amount and number of small seed grants will be determined by the number of agencies/organizations that apply after the conference.

If you know of any agencies, organizations, places of worship or schools that would be interested in learning more about the issues faced by Relatives as Parents, and possibly setting up a new support group, please call 314-615-2911 and leave their name, address and phone number.