WP: D.C. Considering Grandparent Stipend

District Considering Grandparent Stipend
By Theola S. Labbe
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, November 7, 2005; Page B02


Lateaisha Brooks, 12, and her grandmother Delephine Jones, 76, sat on the couch on a recent afternoon after school and together tried to guess what would happen on a TV soap opera. Soon, Lateaisha's sister, Johnnetta Brooks, 14, would arrive at the two-bedroom apartment in Southwest and remind her grandmother that she needed $20 for her Friday night bowling trip.

The children were not simply visiting with Grandma. They have lived with Jones and her husband, Jake, 72, since their mother's death in 1999.

Jones, a retired D.C. schools employee, lives on a fixed income of about $1,300 a month, largely cobbled together from public benefits. She said she uses just about all of it on her $559 rent, groceries to feed the two growing girls and costs associated with the extracurricular activities they enjoy, such as clothes for ushering at church or a dress for a dance recital....

***

Jones and hundreds of other grandparents in similar circumstances may soon get some financial help. The D.C. Council is considering a bill that would provide a monthly stipend to adults raising their grandchildren if they meet income and other requirements. If the legislation passes next month, advocates for the elderly and experts say, the District would be among only a handful of jurisdictions in the country to establish a subsidy for caregivers who are not part of the foster care system....

***

The D.C. office of AARP, the main force behind the bill, convened a grandparents focus group in 2003, published a report and has lobbied council members for more than a year....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/06/AR2005110601121.html

as well. The social services should follow the person in need of them, not their caregiver.

"gay marriage" is a red herring. think of all the ways people form "families" -- the grandparents taking in children of their children is a common example. there's also children taking care of elderly/sick parents. extended families. even groups of people who live together who aren't blood related but form a "family" unit for all intents and purposes.

and of course, same-sex people in loving relationships.

as long as the definition calls "sexuality" to mind, the mouthbreathers will become agitated. take the sexuality out of the debate.

families as economic units.


It's not the Great Society. it's not the Ownership Society. it's the HOMEBOY REVOLUTION
http://johnsoncity.blogspot.com/2005/10/its-not-great-society-its-not.html

the article above mentions grandparents taking in the grandchildren b/c the mother is gone/dead/etc.

what about cases where the grandchildren AND the parent/child are taken in? where the parent is either too addicted, mentally ill, or physically ill to care for self, let alone children. in this case, the non-working adult/parent joins the grandchildren in the grandparents' house. the grandparent is then caretaker in effect for the grandchildren AND the ailing parent.

this was my experience growing up. we shared public assistance. social security and AFDC. we got Commodity Foods. we were always "in a box" in terms of the ill parent not being able to work and being kicked off of assistance for all sorts of reasons, mostly bogus. the grandparents even lost their social security for a while in the 70s. it was a constant struggle.

another example of non-intimate adults forming 'family" is a half-way house -- groups of adults who depend on each other because of addiction or developmental issues.

co-operative farmers; artists; journeymen -- forming a "family" unit in order to nurture and economic enterprise.