Kinship Caregiver Coalition

The Kinship Caregiver Coalition ( formerly GP/GCI )

In 1996, community partners contacted the Center for Healthy Communities (CHC) and suggested that the needs of grandparents raising grandchildren be explored. One partnering agency had observed a significant increase in the number of grandparents seeking services at their organization who were primary caretakers of their grandchildren.

The CHC invited a group of fourteen health and social service organizations serving Montgomery County (Dayton), Ohio to meet and discuss the issues and problems facings these grandparents. The group formed a coalition, the Grandparents/Grandchildren Initiative (GP/GCI), to share information and discuss services currently provided to grandparents and the children in their care. With the support and encouragement of the coalition, the CHC submitted a grant proposal to the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health, Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for program funding, and was awarded a four-year Community Integrated Services System grant on October 1, 1997. The program goals were to

a) increase knowledge and awareness of the caregiver families and their needs among the education, health, housing and human/social service providers in the Dayton area and
b) to develop more responsive public policy to address special concerns of the kinship families in the community.

The Ohio Department of Aging was instrumental is supporting this effort in Ohio, funding the Kinship Navigator Program in Montgomery County for two years. Ongoing support for the program is provided through Children Services Board in Montgomery County and the Center for Healthy Communities.

Accomplishments

• Data collection
• Educational programs
• Statewide conferences
• Kinship Navigator Program
• Formation of the Ohio HB 130 Task Force