Model Programs: KARE Family Center, Tucson, Arizona
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2004-09-07 13:15:00
Model Programs: KARE Family Center, Tucson, Arizona
We can learn a great deal from the many good programs around the country that offer services to grandparents raising grandchildren. The AARP Grandparent Information Center wants to spread the good news about them. Grandparents can learn about new services that might help them. Then they can ask a local group to offer those services to grandparents and other relative caregivers.
Featured Program: KARE Family Center, Tucson, Arizona
Manuel and Lydia Romero needed help. Their son and his wife were in jail in Mexico. Their grandchildren needed someone to take care of them. The Romeros didn't know how to bring the children to live with them. The children were living in Mexico. They were not American citizens. This made things very complicated.
Manuel and Lydia got the help they needed from the KARE Family Center in Tucson, Arizona. The center helped the Romeros get counseling and other services for the children. The two boys are now in school and doing very well. And, they are both now American citizens.
"Both are great students," says Manuel Romero about his grandsons. "They are bilingual. They plan on going to college. Our efforts have been fruitful."
Helping Grandparent Caregivers
The KARE Family Center opened in February 2002. It is the only program of its kind in Arizona. KARE stands for "Kinship and Adoption Resources and Education."
The center opened after grandparents in the area asked for more services. These grandparents wanted to have one place where they could get all the help they needed. They wanted to join support groups. They needed legal help. Some needed more money to pay household bills. Many wanted to get health insurance for their grandchildren.
Laurie Melrood, director of the KARE Family Center, says that all grandparents have a hard time finding services. But finding services is even harder for Latino grandparents.
"They don't know English," says Melrood. "They are not familiar with the culture. They don't know the way community services work. They feel humiliated. All they want is to do the right thing for these children."
Services
The KARE Family Center offers many services for grandparents and other relatives raising children. Staff take the time to learn about each family's problems. Then they help grandparents find the help they need. Some grandparents just need information. Others need services. If the center can't help a grandparent, it finds someone else who can. All services are free. Staff people speak English and Spanish.
Many families come to the KARE Family Center for legal help. Volunteer lawyers at the center help grandparents get custody of their grandchildren or adopt them. The center also helps grandparents fill out the forms they need to become legal guardians. These forms are very important. That's because Arizona requires you to be a legal guardian to enroll a child in school and to get medical care for a child.
Grandparents can join support groups at the KARE Family Center. The center also holds fun events for families. Young students can work with a tutor so they do better in school. Therapists help the children cope with their new living situation.
Melrood is proud of her center. "Many folks were not receiving services just a few years ago," she says. "Now they are able to receive these services with pride and dignity."
The KARE Family Center is a program of Arizona's Children's Association and Casey Family Programs. Other partners are the Pima Council on Aging, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, and the Arizona Department of Economic Security. The center has served more than 1,500 families since it opened its doors. Six hundred of those families are Latino.
Contact information:
Laurie Melrood
KARE Family Center
4710 E 29th Street Bldg 7
Tucson AZ, 85711
Phone: (520) 323-4476
Fax: (520) 323-9830
AARP Resources
- Lean on Me: Support and Minority Outreach for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
This AARP study takes a closer look at strategies for reaching out to African American, Hispanic and Native American caregiving grandparents. - Children of Our Children
Read about the special challenges faced by Hispanic grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in this issue of "AARP Segunda Juventud." The magazine is a quarterly, bilingual publication for Hispanic members of AARP.
Other Resources
- Welcome to the KARE Family Center
Learn more about the KARE Family Center and the services it offers. - Kinship Care/Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Resource Listing
The National Adoption Information Clearinghouse at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has compiled a list of organizations that provide information on kinship care. - By George! Entertainer George Lopez was raised by his grandparents. Read this profile of the successful Hispanic comedian.
Books
Find this book online at Barnes & Noble.com
- " Grandparents as Parents: A Survival Guide for Raising a Second Family , " Sylvie de Toledo, Deborah Elder-Brown, Guilford Publications, Incorporated (Publisher,) July 1995
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