Now This Is Scary

In my research on grandparents raising grandchildren versus foster children, I ran into an article written by Dana Friedman of the Early Years Institute  in which she states:
'Every politician is taking aim at spending. Some attack unions. Some go after health care costs. Some want to reduce infrastructure budgets. But one thing remains the same in every state and in Washington: when it comes to children and families, women and the elderly, those who are sick or disabled – it’s not a question of whether to cut, but how much.
But there are too many cuts being proposed where too few seem to grasp that we either pay now, or pay much more later.  More frustrating is that no one is asking what’s best for the child.
One of the most egregious examples of being pennywise and pound foolish as well as inhumane is the proposal to cut subsidies to grandparents raising their grandchildren. Rather than keep children with their families, many New York State politicians would rather move these children to the more expensive foster care system.' 

Wow!  How many times have you read about a child dying in a foster care home, being abused sexually, mentally or physically in a foster care home, made to work like a dog, being underfed and I can go on and on.

How many times have we seen CPS abuse their powers and we want to put our grandchildren in the care of these people? What on earth was Governor Cuomo thinking in 2009?

You can read the entire article by going to the link above, but you can also head over to National Committee of Grandparents  
and see what they are saying.

To me, having the state or government say we as grandparents can no longer take our grandchildren or relatives take family members is just as bad as what Hitler did. If you want more government involvement just look at his reign of terror and YES, he went after the children!

Watch this short video and believe this is happening all over and trust me when this woman says, 'we are losing an entire generation of parents to drugs.' http://www.freep.com/VideoNetwork/2176121436001/Grandparents-are-having-to-become-parents-all-over

What I think is horrible and I do NOT have the solution is why welfare continues to pay for parents on drugs to have children? Why isn't their some type of drug testing for families applying for benefits and why is it grandparents no longer qualify for TANF while parents that no longer have the children do?

In one case I know, dad died in an auto accident due to alcohol and mom lives on welfare, has had 8 children by 4 different men, out of those 8, she has custody of only 1 and is pregnant again.  Let me break it down...3 are in foster care, 2 have been adopted out, she has 1 and 2 live with their grandparents. The one she has custody of CPS is already watching with a close eye!

Check out this one last final article I found looking around:
http://grandparents.about.com/od/grandparentingissues/tp/RaisingGrand.htm

States need to recognize they need grandparents to help with the children the parents no longer are willing to care for.  All states should recognize for monetary or other reasons, grandparents may not be willing to or may not be able to afford to adopt. However if grandparents are the legal guardian, then states need to consider them Foster Parents and be more willing to reach out and help.

I recently saw an advertisement for a pajama campaign for foster children and there have been other events such as coat drives, bike drives, backpack drives, but not once have I seen anything like this for a grandparent.

While foster parents receive respite care and care givers paid for by the state, how nice it would be if grandparents could receive this.

How about you just go to your local church or community action program and ask to set up a spa day for grandparents where grandma's and grandpa's can come in, drop their grandchildren off for free and be treated to massages, facials, hair cuts, manis and pedis and a nice lunch afterwards.

Lets start a national movement and get some help for those of us who are raising grandchildren you might be surprised how many of us there are!