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Name: AARP
Location:
Louisville, Kentucky
United States
Louisville, Kentucky
United States
My Websites:
www.aarp.org/ky
www.aarp.org/kyjobs
www.aarp.org/community/groups/AARPKentuckyVolunteers
www.aarp.org/ky
www.aarp.org/kyjobs
www.aarp.org/community/groups/AARPKentuckyVolunteers
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"I, too, am a Kentuckian." Abraham Lincoln - 1861 16th President of the United States Born February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky
"I, too, am a Kentuckian." Abraham Lincoln - 1861 16th President of the United States Born February 12, 1809 in Hardin County, Kentucky
Congress Returns to Work, AARP Keeps Pushing Health Reform for All AmericansAdvocates Oppose Eliminating Funds for KY Grandparents
State Budget Cuts Hurt Human Services Across Generations
Advocates Oppose Eliminating Funds for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
FRANKFORT, KY - Grandparents raising grandchildren along with leaders from Kentucky Association for Gerontology (KAG), State Rep. Jimmie Lee (D-25) and AARP called upon state leaders to restore deep cuts for programs supporting Grandparents raising their grandchildren. In an effort to balance the state budget, program cuts have eliminated support services in the Cabinet for Health and Family Services’ Department of Aging and Independent Living.
“I’m determined to do everything possible to restore these funds to the KY Caregiver Program.”
State Rep. Jimmie Lee (Elizabethtown)
In Kentucky today, some 57,141 children live in grandparent-headed households (5.7% of all the children in the state) and another 12,294 children living in households headed by other relatives (1.2% of all the children in the state). "Grandparents raising grandchildren and other relative caregivers provide stability and a loving home for children who would otherwise be placed in foster care," said Barbara Gordon of KAG. "Without these programs supporting these caregivers, many more children would be placed in the foster care system at a greater cost to the state."
State Representative Jimmie Lee of Elizabethtown stated, “I’m determined to do everything possible to restore these funds to the KY Caregiver Program.” Margaret Stroud, a 
grandparent raising her grandchild stated, "I am one of hundreds of thousands of Kentucky grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. We're saving the state money by taking in children so they don't go into foster care. The programs that help us are losing their funding. What does that mean? If we can’t get support from state programs, what are we do? Put our grandkids in foster care?"
grandparent raising her grandchild stated, "I am one of hundreds of thousands of Kentucky grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. We're saving the state money by taking in children so they don't go into foster care. The programs that help us are losing their funding. What does that mean? If we can’t get support from state programs, what are we do? Put our grandkids in foster care?"AARP urged the Governor and General Assembly to restore state funding to Grandparenting services. According to AARP State Director, Phil Peters, “Even in difficult economic times, budget cuts to Grandparenting programs need to be the last ones on the table, and not the first. Kentucky can and must do better to support these families to help our next generation grow up healthy and strong.”
Additional background available online at:US Census at http://factfinder.census.gov or http://www.census.gov/population/www/cen2000/phc-t17.html
AARPKY says:
Thank you for your insights and sharing your experience. It's an important issue and AARP KY is working to have the funding restored in the Cabinet's budget
Posted: March 5, 2009 12:51PM EST
kinsoul says:
I have worked with abused and neglected kids in different roles for over 30 years, including 10 years with the state of Colorado in child protective services. It's an interesting environment in which we find ourselves. More and more states, facing budget shortfalls, are gambling with the lives of kids. The whole reason for there being a program of providing support to family placements was to save money for the state on children that otherwise would need much more expensive out of home placements. Of course there are other benefits which include perserving family identity, maintaining stability for the child (instead of haiving kids in a foster care system in which they typically move placement to placement), maintaining cultural identity, and even reducing liability to the state. But mostly, it saved the states money. This program is an example of cuttingoff the nose to spite their face. The average reading public will look at this story and say "why do we pay grandparents to take care of their own family?" And the state can use that kind of ignorant of the facts public pressure, as well as the threat of their gradkids being placed to pressure grandparents to take on the burden. But the first ones to lose are the children who end up in care, the families who can't afford the extra cost, and ultimately the taxpayers. Here in Maine over the last two years they have insited that group homes either upgrade to a mental health license or close. It sounds like a win win to the public, who doesn't want an upgrade? But the result has been that more and more kids who have been abused and neglected don't meet the need for care for mental health services but are older and have too many behavior problems to be in foster care. So it is an excuse to force them home. Supposedly they are old enough to take care of themselves now, or they run away and go into homeless shelters or into crime. Something will happen to wake up the people to these kinds of time bombs
Posted: March 4, 2009 4:09PM EST
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Added: Mar 4, 2009
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