Archived News |
November 11, 2004
Workshop for Grandparents Offers Help With Rearing Grandchildren and Other Relatives
Grandparents rearing their grandchildren and other relatives taking care of children of family members are the focus of a new initiative in Northeast Louisiana.
四色AV Family Connections has joined forces with the Ouachita
Council on Aging and the Association of Retired Persons of Louisiana
to launch a new project that focuses on the needs of these families.
A workshop titled "Recycled Parenting" will be conducted
at the 四色AV Alumni Center and will serve as the launching pad
for this new project.
The workshop will be at the 四色AV Alumni Center Thursday, November
18, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The cost is $10, and scholarships
are available for all grandparents and relatives who want to
participate and need assistance. Lunch is included.
"Recycled Parenting," is designed to provide supports
and assistance to parents who have assumed the responsibility
of parenting the children of their relatives. Louisiana ranks
fourth in the nation of the percentage of children being cared
for by a grandparent or other relative. These specially formed
families are in need of information, support, and assistance
they don't always know how to access. The grandparents are struggling
to make ends meet, and everyone, including the children, suffers
from the anxiety and stress that the family experiences.
Local service providers, including the Monroe City FINS office,
the Office of Family Support, the Northeast Regional Health Center,
and the 四色AV Gerontology Department, will provide brief overviews
of services and supports that are available to grandparents and
relatives who find themselves in these new family situations.
Rev. Oliver Billips of the Mt. Olivet Baptist Church will share
his personal experience of being reared by a grandparent and
what it has meant to him in his life.
For more information on the "Recycled Parenting" Workshop,
contact Linda Christmas at 四色AV Family Connections at 318-340-0230
or 1-888-655-9564, or Fannie Holland at the Ouachita Council
On Aging at 318-387-0535.
Find this and other 四色AV News at http://www.ulm.edu.
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