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New group in Carlisle offers support to family members raising children due to opioid crisis

The Sentinel - 10/2/2018

Oct. 02--There have always been occasional situations in which a grandparent takes up raising a grandchild.

It is, however, becoming more and more common for not only grandparents but also aunts, uncles and siblings to take care of children whose parents are addicted to opioids.

A new support group started Tuesday evening to bring hope to those caregivers.

GRANDS began Tuesday at YWCA Carlisle, located at 301 G St. The acronym stands for "Gratitude. Resilience. Attitude. Nurture. Develop. Support."

The group has received grants from the Cumberland-Perry Drug and Alcohol Commission and Partnership for Better Health to pay for child care for attendees, which will be provided by the YWCA's preschool teachers.

Meetings are expected to feature speakers who will discuss the ways caregivers are affected by their situation, and where they can go to get help. Over time, organizers expect that the group will start to find its own direction.

The group started when the Rev. Donna Hale, chaplain and community advocate, became interested in grandparents who were raising their grandchildren as a result of incarceration, death or other family dynamics brought on by the opioid crisis.

With the idea of a support group in mind, she went to her friend, Karen Byers, who has been part of a breast cancer support group at YWCA Carlisle for 25 years. Byers said she jumped on board because she knows how vital it is for people to talk to someone who has walked in their shoes.

"That's one of the things I'm hoping for with this group, that grandparents find that they are not isolated. They are not alone. There are others walking this path with them," she said.

Hale's next step was to go to Sadler Health Center to talk to Katrina Thoma, director of medical services for the organization. She, too, joined the effort without hesitation, having seen a number of patients who are now in the care of their grandparents.

"What struck me with grandparents, depending on the age group the grandparents are in or great-grandparents ... they're not really savvy with what's going on today, especially the great-grandparents," Thoma said.

Things that parents take for granted, like social media and the ins and outs of how schools are run, are simply out of the realm of thinking for many of the grandparents, she said. Grandparents also struggle with legal issues involving the care of the child. Some grandparents have a slip of paper with a handwritten note from their own incarcerated child, giving them the authority to act as guardian.

"The reality is that that piece of paper doesn't necessarily hold water," Thoma said.

Others have taken on the responsibility for their grandchildren because the children were dropped off at their houses. Either way, the grandparents can't get a lot of the social support in the community because of the lack of a legal agreement, and many are afraid to go to agencies like Mid-Penn Legal Services or Children and Youth Services or to check into pro bono assistance with the Cumberland County Bar Association.

"They're worried that someone is going to decide that they're too old to take care of these little toddlers and take them away. So, they're afraid," Thoma said.

Grandparents also deal with the behavioral and mental health issues the children struggle with as a result of having a parent with an addiction. Thoma said the grandparents are taking care of children who "don't know up from down," and have had little supervision or care.

Wait times for an appointment with a pediatric psychiatrist who can help deal with the issues can be as long as six months, and the grandparent is left dealing with the child in the meantime, Thoma said.

"We have this knee jerk reaction of adding more mental health care, adding more rehab, adding more whatever [for the addicted person], which is all great because we need all that stuff," Thoma said. "But what we forget is how much effect it has on the family around them and how specifically that affects the children. These kids are not OK."

The legal issues and health issues combine to potentially create insurance issues for these caregivers. Without a legal document securing guardianship, the child may lose insurance.

"A grandparent can't sign for them if they don't have a legal document that says they are the current guardian of these kids," Thoma said.

All three women believe the support group will be a place in which grandparents, and any other family member caring for a child, can find hope.

"When you look at it that way, you realize that just bringing them together is almost comfort for them because they realize they aren't alone. It isn't just their problem," Byers said.

Looking beyond the immediate issue of assisting the grandparents, group organizers hope the connections made will also make life easier for the children and enable them to grow into viable, productive adults.

"My argument is that unless we start addressing these children that are living in chaotic homes they will be our next generation of opioid addicts," Thoma said.

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