These responses are similar to others from a statewide research survey conducted in Michigan by the Kinship Care Resource Center through the School of Social Work at Michigan State University in 2007. 

Other responses given by survey participants included: “I love my children and grandchildren, and would do all I can to keep us as a family. They are my blood (and) family and give me such joy.  I want them to feel love, family, and secure.”

Grandparents have a special bond with grandchildren and caring for them in the absence of their biological parents is a duty many feel obligated to fulfill regardless of income or ability.

National Statistics of Children in Foster Care
Nationally from 2006-2007, there were 496,000 children in foster care (Trends in Foster Care and Adoption, FY 2002-FY 2007).  Many of these children are placed in the system because of parental substance misuse and child abuse and neglect. The average stay of a child in foster care can be up to 2 ½ years or more excluding the number of re-entries. With the shrinking number of foster homes available, grandparents and other relatives have become a viable option for children in out of home placements. However, there is a great need for the creation of specialized kinship programs and services to meet their unique needs.

Research results of children raised in kinship care versus foster care have shown that kinship placements provide more stability and permanency for children in out-of-home-placements (Rubin, Downes, O’Reilly, MeKonnen, Luan, & Localio, 2008).

Strengthening Families
As a society we need to get back to investing in the family and supporting grandparents and other extended family members who step in to care for children in need. It seems that no matter how good a foster or adoptive parent may be for a child, he or she usually attempts to connect with their family of origin to help them understand their history and identity.

Jasmin’s Story
Jasmin is a 22-year-old undergraduate student studying social work at Michigan State University. At the age of 9, she and her siblings lived with her grandmother as a result of her mother’s substance abuse problem. Despite her low-income, her grandmother did her best to keep the siblings together. After a year, Jasmin and her siblings were removed from her grandmother’s home and placed in separate foster homes. During her experience in foster care, Jasmin was placed in 4 homes for 5 years. During this time, she lost connections with her siblings and was unable to visit with them. When Jasmin was 14 years old, almost 5 years after being placed in the foster care system, she had the opportunity to visit a sibling that was adopted. In a fortunate twist of fate, she also was adopted by the same family.

Jasmin’s story is very typical of children who are removed from grandparents and placed in foster care. When asked what could have been done differently, Jasmin’s response has always been, “I wish that my grandmother had the support, financially and emotionally, to continue caring for us. I believe that had an organization like the Kinship Care (Resource Center) been around when my siblings and I were going through this trial, we would have never been separated. To this day, I have still yet to connect with some of my siblings."

To find more information about subsidized guardianship in your state, visit Generations United at:
http://www.gu.org/documents/A0/GU-GeneralFactSheetJune.pdf.