Newsletter 3

PROGRAM WINS 19TH DISNEY AWARD

At the Walt Disney Community Service Awards Breakfast
held on September 20th, 2001, the Foster Grandparent
Program won its 19th Walt Disney Community Service
Award. Connie Hurlebaus, Past-Chairperson of the Advisory
Council, accepted the award on behalf of the program. The
program received a beautiful trophy and a check for
$3,000.

FAMILY CAREGIVER SUPPORT PROGRAM

There is an increasing need for service to Grandparents
and other non-parental relatives placed in the position of
caring for children. The reason for this growing need
includes: domestic violence, parental incarceration, drug
addiction, teen parents, as well as economic influences.
Those families in the lower economic strata usually take the
children without formal agreement or support mechanism.

When Grandparents and other relatives are faced with
being the primary caregiver, more times than not, they are
unprepared for this new role and unfamiliar with the
systems they will be required to rely on for services, i.e.,
the legal system, educational system, welfare system, child
care, and other social systems. Additionally, relative
caregivers must face emotional issues surrounding the
breakdown in the family: anger and guilt associated with
the family, responsibilities of the situation and "who is to
blame." The caregiver, children and other family members
are faced with these issues while trying to stabilize the
family.

In an attempt to meet this community need, the Foster
Grandparent Program has formed a partnership with
Seniors First, Inc. to provide needs assessments and
organize focus groups to identify Grandparents as relative
caregivers and to update and publish an information and
service manual to assist those in need.

FROM THE DIRECTOR

Happy New Year! This has been a great year for the Foster
Grandparent Program of Central Florida. As the needs of
our community have increased, we have been able to
increase our services to meet those needs. This was
accomplished through increased community resources, new
partnerships and dedicated staff.

As we celebrate our 30th anniversary, I must reflect back
over the past 30 years to how the Foster Grandparent
Program started and where we are now. In 1972, the
program started with 80 Foster Grandparents all working
with mentally challenged children in Sunland Hospital.
Today, we have 252 Foster Grandparents working with
children with diverse special or exceptional needs in more
than 80 sites. As the needs of our community have
changed, the program has demonstrated the flexibility and
the ability to meet these changing needs. Foster
Grandparents are limited income senior volunteers who
spend an average of 20 hours per week giving love,
guidance, instruction, and most of all, one-on-one
attention to our children who have special deficits-
educational, social, behavioral, and physical.

The long existence and success of the program is exemplary
of intergenerational programs. It took our society a few
generations to understand the importance that all
generations play in the development of our children and our
communities. Successful communities have broken down the
generation barriers and have integrated people of all ages
into their communities. In our community, this has been
done through the Foster Grandparent Program.

We wish to thank our community for having the foresight
to recognize the significance of children having access to
our older generation, to value the experience and skills of
our older persons and to use their knowledge in addressing
community needs.

Ann E Smith

Director

HOLIDAY FOOD BASKETS

Each year, the Foster Grandparent Program provides
approximately fifty food baskets to Foster Grandparents
most in need and to those who have no relatives in their
area with whom they can share the holiday meal. This year
volunteers from Waste Management Orlando delivered 52
baskets to the Grandparent's homes on December 21st. We
wish to thank all those that made this project a success.

COMMUNITY FOUNDATION GRANT

The Foster Grandparent Program of Central Florida
received a $10,000 grant from the Community Foundation
to develop a partnership with the Children's Home Society,
which will allow two Foster Grandparents to provide
warmth, love and comfort to children in crisis at the Lilley
House. This program provides emergency shelter and other
services for children, birth to 11 years, who can no longer
live in their homes due to neglect, abuse or lack of family
support. The Lilley House, located in Casselberry, is a
renovated house that provides a warm, nurturing
environment to approximately 15 children on any given
day. Since this is an emergency shelter, the length of stay
is usually 30 days or until a permanent home is secured for
the children in crisis. Children could be returned to their
family, placed with relatives or placed in foster care. The
Department of Children and Families make the
determination with input from the Children's Home Society.

Pauline Christopher, a Foster Grandparent at the Lilley
House, is the typical Grandmother. Pauline assists in
stabilizing the children to deal with their traumatic
situation. She can be seen rocking infants and toddlers,
playing games and giving lots of hugs. KC Hendrickson,
Volunteer Coordinator with the Children's Home Society,
remarked, "The Foster Grandparents are invaluable and
have so much to offer our children. We sincerely
appreciate all the love that Pauline gives to the children
and the staff."

Our community is fortunate to have the Lilley House with a
staff that is so kind and committed to the care of children.
The Children's Home Society and Lilley House are to be
commended for their efforts toward providing a better
place for the children in our community.