East Central Missouri Region

9/21/07        PDF version (52K)

Roxanne Miller
Regional Civic Communications Specialist
University of Missouri Extension
121 S. Meramec, Suite 501
Clayton, MO 63105
314-615-7607 office, 636-574-1324 pager
MillerRT@missouri.edu

Source: Elizabeth Reinsch, Ph.D., Human Development Specialist, 314-615-7605

CLAYTON, Mo. — A $10,000 two-year regional grant from the Brookdale Foundation Group has been awarded to the Gateway Grandparents/Kinship Network. The grant will be used to help organizations in five counties (St. Louis, Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties and St. Louis City) create new support groups for Relatives as Parents and to increase awareness of issues faced by these grandparents raising grandchildren and other relative caregivers of children.

To launch the new effort, a one-day workshop will be offered from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. November 15 in Clayton for representatives of community organizations, places of worship, schools and other agencies interested in working with relatives as parents. The workshop 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.

Any agency or community organization sending a representative to the workshop will be eligible to apply for a small seed grant to initiate a support group for relatives as parents within their organization or community. The monetary amount and number of small seed grants will be determined by the number of agencies or organizations that apply after the workshop.

“This workshop will help to increase agency awareness and support for grandparents and relatives serving as parents for children in the St. Louis area,” said Elizabeth Reinsch, Ph.D., human development specialist headquartered in St. Louis County and coordinator of the Gateway Grandparents/Kinship Network. “We’re excited about receiving this grant, which will enable us to offer assistance to more community organizations wanting to serve individuals who are relatives as parents.”

The workshop will feature information on issues faced by relatives as parents, including legal issues and cultural differences related to being a relative caregiver. A panel of grandparents/relative caregivers will discuss the challenges they have faced in raising children. Information will be provided on how organizations can start a support group and apply for a seed grant to help establish a group.

According to the 2000 Census, more than 31,000 children under the age of 18 live with a grandparent in the five-county area of St. Louis, Franklin, Jefferson and St. Charles counties and St. Louis City. The percentage of children in each county under the age of 18 living with a grandparent is: City of St. Louis (11.7 percent), St. Louis County (5.5 percent), Jefferson County (5.1 percent), Franklin County (4.5 percent), and St. Charles County (3.3 percent).

The Gateway Grandparents/Kinship Network has existed since 1998 and is a coalition of 11 agencies and service providers working to address issues important to relative caregivers in the St. Louis Metro Area. The coalition includes AARP; Cardinal Ritter Senior Services; County Older Resident Programs (CORP), St. Louis County Human Services; Edgewood Children’s Center; Legal Services of Eastern Missouri; Let’s Start Caregivers Group, St. Vincent de Paul Church; Mid-East Area Agency on Aging (MEAAA); Missouri Department of Social Services, Children’s Division; Parents as Teachers; St. Louis Area Agency on Aging (SLAAA), Department of Human Services; and University of Missouri Extension.

The Brookdale Foundation Group’s mission is to enhance the quality of life for America’s senior citizens and to further the fields of gerontology and geriatrics. Brookdale’s Relatives as Parents Program was initiated in 1996 to encourage and promote the creation or expansion of services for grandparents and other relatives who have taken on the responsibility of surrogate parenting.

The November 15 workshop is free (including lunch), but registration is required by November 1. The workshop is intended for organizational representatives, not individuals who are caregivers themselves.

To register, agency or organizational representatives should call 314-615-2911 and request a registration form. They will be mailed a form that should be completed and returned by November 1 to the St. Louis County Extension office, 121 S. Meramec, Suite 501, Clayton, MO 63105.

For more information, call Elizabeth Reinsch, MU Extension, 314-615-2911, or visit the Web at extension.missouri.edu/ecregion/grandparent/. 

East Central Regional Director's Office Bud Reber, Regional Director Page Maintained By: Roxanne T. Miller, MillerRT@missouri.edu Last revised: 05/09/08