6 · SATURDAY, AUGUST 25, 2018 TRIB TOTAL MEDIA
“If you’re 55 years old or older and liv-ing
with and raising children under 18,
you can get a care manager to follow the
case, assist in filling out applications, find
social services and resources, have access to
lists of support groups and respite care, so
basically the care manager creates an indi-vidual
plan based on what that family, in
particular, needs.”
There can be many concerns that stretch
beyond the financial.
How will they help with homework,
especially subjects in which teaching
methods have changed dramatically since
the first time some grandparents raised
children?
How will they keep children safe in a
technologically advanced world?
How will they find the energy required
to keep up with young kids, a task that can
exhaust parents decades younger?
“When you’re a senior citizen, you have
your own struggles you’re trying to pro-cess,”
Jenkins said.
“Getting older goes with challenges. You
don’t sleep as well, don’t see as well, don’t
hear as well. You’re not as quick walking.
They’ll be yards ahead of you and you’re
yelling, ‘Wait a minute, wait a minute.’ I
see that all the time. I used to tell the kids,
‘Your grandmother can’t do that, I can’t
run, I can’t catch you so don’t even try
it.’ There are all these types of things that
need to be addressed.”
ASCI provides help with all of these con-cerns,
Gamble-Petit said, and if caregivers
have issues they don’t have an immediate
solution for, they’ll work to find a way to
provide one.
The organization is built on the premise
that children do better when placed with
families, or kinship care, than traditional
foster care.
In the system, grandparents go through
a certification process just as traditional
foster care families do.
They must undergo a physical and an
in-home inspection among other qualifi-cations.
Once the family is certified, they receive
access to financial support, training,
twice-monthly in-home visits with a case
worker, the “Kinship Closet,” where they
can get new and gently-used clothing,
educational support, respite care and spe-cial
programs for kids, including summer
RAISING CHILDREN: TAKE 2
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412-664-1000
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724-834-5711
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Leechburg
724-845-0933
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