HELP FOR CAREGIVERS
Legislation would provide them support for opioid and other crises.
It has been eight years since Charlotte Stephenson found out that her daughter was addicted to painkillers and that her grandson had been born addicted.
Though her daughter is now two years clean, Ms. Stephenson has spent nearly a decade taking care of 8-year-old Cameron, and has faced the emotional, physical and financial pain that an increasing number of grandparents are going through as they care for grandchildren caught up in the opioid epidemic.
“Anyone can see on the surface the view of a grandparent raising a grandchild — things like putting off retirement due to financial strain, finding child care, forgoing personal time or interests, being the oldest PTA volunteer or having a unique family structure,” Ms. Stephenson said. “What people do not see is the isolation, the stigma, the sadness, the fear, the immeasurable sacrifice or stress that a grandparent raising a grandchild in the midst of an addiction hurricane experiences.”
More and more children are being raised by grandparents and other relatives due to the opioid epidemic, incarceration and alcoholism, said Allegheny Family Network CEO Ruth Fox. Acting out of love, the caregivers save the government money and keep children out of an already-stressed system.
But their care also comes at a cost, as grandparents dig into their retirement savings or put off saving altogether.
It’s a problem that U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, ranking member of the Special Committee on Aging, is trying to tackle with new legislation that he introduced this week and talked about at a round-table with grandparents in Pittsburgh on Friday.
The federal government is not doing enough to help grandparents who make these sacrifices, he said, and has to pick up more of the slack. His new bill, the Grandfamilies Act, intends to help grandparents access more resources to pay for care.
“We want to provide more direct support because this isn’t just difficult work because of the nature of having to become, in essence, a parent again,” Mr. Casey said. “It’s difficult work because children don’t come without a cost.”
The bill, introduced in the Capitol on Thursday, would alleviate restrictions on Social Security benefits so that relative children can get them if they’re under legal custody of a relative who already receives them.
It would also make funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program more accessible to grandfamilies by making sure that work requirements, income and time limits don’t stop them in their pursuits. For grandparents who want to apply for cash assistance but don’t want the state to go after the child’s parents for child support, Mr. Casey’s bill would ensure that, as well.
The Grandfamilies Act would also encourage states to enact temporary guardianship laws so that relative caretakers can make significant decisions on the child’s behalf.
Ms. Stephenson said that aspect would be “critical,” and had it been in effect earlier, she wouldn’t have had to go through two years of court proceedings to keep her grandson under her roof when the child’s father — also battling addiction — tried to take custody. Her legal fees exceeded $85,000, she said.
A temporary guardianship law would have also helped Bonnie and Jim Lancia, grandparents who have taken care of their 13-year-old granddaughter after their daughter died of breast cancer two and a half years ago. The couple had to go through Orphans Court, which cost about $8,000 — which was financially and mentally burdensome, Mr. Lancia said.
But the Social Security provisions, Mr. Lancia said, are also key.
Last year, Mr. Casey’s Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act was signed into law, authorizing the creation of a one-stop shop of resources to help grandparents raising grandchildren.
Under that bill, the government was supposed to convene an advisory council made up of eight federal agencies to disseminate and identify info to help grandparents. Mr. Casey said that he is still pushing to get that done, and that he’s “not satisfied” with how fast the government is moving.