[HCCN] 12.8.09 Relatives as Parents Group

[Candy Eaton]

November 30, 2009; FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  Candy Eaton, Program Director
* *
*"Relatives as Parents SUPPORT Group"*
 
The Hancock County Children's Council wants to remind you that the next 
meeting of our Relatives As Parents Support Group will be held on 
Tuesday, December 8^th , 2009, from 6:00pm to 8:00pm. If you are a 
grandparent, aunt, uncle, sibling, cousin or good friend of the family 
caring for a relative's child or working toward that goal, you are 
invited to join our "Relatives as Parents" facilitated support group 
conveniently located in Ellsworth at the Downeast Health Services 
office, 52 Christian Ridge Road on the second Tuesday of each month.  If 
you are interested in participating in this FREE mutual support group, 
contact Candy Eaton at 667-5304 ext. 261. 
 
Are you one of the following types of grandparent caregivers?
·         Custodial grandparents have legal custody of their 
grandchildren; they provide daily care and decision-making tasks.  The 
focus on this type of care-giving is on the grandchild and providing 
them with a sense of security.
·         "Living with" grandparents provide daily care for their 
grandchildren, but do not have legal custody.  The child's parent may or 
may not live in the home.  These grandparents focus on providing an 
economically and emotionally stable environment for the child, and often 
on helping the parent.  Because the grandparent does not possess legal 
custody, he or she has no way of protecting the child from an unsuitable 
or dangerous parent.
·         "Day care" grandparents focus on helping the child's parent 
and on fulfilling their own needs.  These grandparents tend to be the 
least affected by their caretaking role because the children return home 
at the end of the day.  They function closest to the societal definition 
of "grandparent".[i] <#_edn1>
 
The Hancock County Children's Council, a program of Downeast Health 
Services Inc., in partnership with /Maine Kids-Kin, /seeks to support 
families who are raising their relatives' children in Hancock County.  
Many families have recently undertaken the unexpected responsibility of 
caring for a relative's child.   In Maine, over 11,000 children with 
their grandparents, aunts, uncles, or with another relative who are not 
their parents. Even so, many relatives feel they are in this alone.  
These relatives' lives are complicated, yet they are experienced parents 
and bring history and past lessons to a new relationship with their 
relatives' children.  Throughout Hancock County, there are others who 
share many similar experiences and feelings.   To learn more about Maine 
Kids-Kin and its services, visit www.mainekids-kin.org 
<http://www.mainekids-kin.org> or call 1-866-298-0896.
 
The Hancock County Children's Council collaborates with many local 
partners to strengthen Maine's families.  Please call 667-5304 ext. 261, 
email children at downeasthealth.org <mailto:children at downeasthealth.org> 
or visit our website at www.downeasthealth.org 
<http://www.downeasthealth.org> for additional information on parenting 
classes, child development and family resources available in Hancock 
County. 
 
/Candy Eaton, Program Director
Hancock County Children's Council, a program of Downeast Health Services 
Inc.
52 Christian Ridge Road, Ellsworth, ME  04605/
/207-667-5304, ext. 261; //children at downeasthealth.org/ 
<mailto:children at downeasthealth.org>

------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i] <#_ednref1>/Family Issues/, University of Maine Cooperative 
Extension, Volume 8, No. 2, 1999 (Kleiner, H.S., Hertzog, J., & Targ, 
D.B. (1998). Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: A Resource Guide for 
Professionals.  ParentLink, University Outreach and Extension, 
University of  Missouri-Columbia).
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