AARP North Carolina Publishes Grandparents' Guide
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2004-12-22 13:45:00-05:00
AARP North Carolina, working with North Carolina Cooperative Extension and the state Division of Aging, has published "Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Grandchildren," a 52-page guide to help grandparents and other kinship caregivers find needed resources. The guide provides background information and lists resources to help grandparents and other relatives deal with the educational, financial, medical and legal issues related to raising children.
"We were hearing more and more that grandparents and other kinship caregivers were struggling to navigate the system," said Associate State Director Suzanne LaFollette-Cameron, who headed the project for AARP North Carolina. "This guide is a valuable look at the issues and a roadmap to solutions. We know it will have a huge impact."
The growing number of grandparents raising grandchildren is a social phenomenon not limited to any particular ethnic group, geographical location or economic circumstances. Grandparents and other relatives may find themselves raising children for many reasons, such as substance abuse, mental illness, death, divorce, abandonment, child abuse or neglect, job loss, incarceration, health issues and other circumstances.
In North Carolina, some 160,000 children under age 18 live in grandparent-headed households, while an estimated 35,000 additional children are being raised by relatives other than their biological parents.
The guide has been in preparation for nearly a year. Nineteen people served on the editorial committee, including representatives of grandparent support groups, other professionals assisting grandparents and actual grandparents raising grandchildren.
The guide is available online. To obtain a hard copy of the guide, contact Suzanne LaFollette-Cameron at the North Carolina State AARP office at (919) 508-0269 or via email.
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A look at the issues and a roadmap to solutions
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