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Page A 6
A p ril 13. 2005
Hurdles to Raising Your Child’s Child
Grandparents
fight costly
legal system
K atherine K ovacich
T he P ortland O bserver
H er daughter becam e a young
m other hooked on drugs, search
ing for the right man in all the
w rong places. N ow at the age o f
58, Joan C allander finds herself
as the sole provider o f the 13-
year-old grandson her daughter
c o u ld n ’t take care of. S he’s not
the only one.
In O re g o n , 2 2 ,1 0 3 g ra n d
p aren ts are raising 4.4 percent
o f s ta te ’s kids. W ithout in ter
v en tio n , ch ild ren face neglect,
ab u se, aban d o n m en t and foster
h o m e s, not to m en tio n d rug
use, gang activity and teen preg
nancy.
Recently, grandparents rallied
at the state capital to help raise
public and legislative awareness
o f the issues they face.
“Several o f the senators were
very supportive in terms o f work
ing to see if they can ’t get some
o f the language in the Oregon
laws changed simply to make it
easier when a child is in a bad
situation,” Callander said. “You
start out with baby steps and
hopefully w e’ll move it forward
a little next year.”
G randparents who are guard
ians for their child’s offspring,
often m ust go to court for re
by
Joan Callander and her grandson Chad have done well together despite the hardships they've had to go through with Oregon laws.
s tr a in in g o rd e rs , f ig h t fo r
parenting rights and give up an
“ordinary” family life — all while
attem pting to prepare for retire
ment and living on Social Secu
rity.
“Right now it’s pretty much
that you have to prove that the
parents are unfit, which I think is
necessary, but it’s very d iffi
cult,” C allander said.
She and o th e r g randparents
w ant to m ake it easier to qualify
as “de fa c to ” p a re n ts,” gaining
equal status w ith biological p a r
en ts w hen the m o th er o r father
has n e g le c te d , a b u se d , a b a n
d o n ed o r o th e rw ise serio u sly
e n d an g ered th eir child.
Right now , just the cost o f an
attorney fees stop m any grand
parents from taking action, she
said.
E nrolling a child in school,
applying for Social Security ben
efits for children with disabilities
or deceased parents, or authoriz
ing em ergency medical care also
gets grandparents tangled up in
legal regulations.
W hen C allan d er started ra is
ing her gran d so n m ore than 10
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years ago, she felt that there
w a s n ’t m uch in th e w ay o f
assistan ce o r ad vice in w ork
ing the system . So she w rote a
book, “ Second T im e A round:
H e lp fo r G ra n d p a re n ts W ho
R aise T heir C h ild re n ’s K ids.”
“I wrote it as a practical guide
for people in crisis because som e
tim es you feel like yo u ’re the
only one in the world that feels
this w ay,” she said.
C allander says grandparents
can m ake calm er guardians, but
also face the im pacts o f age.
“ Y ou d o n ’t necessarily try to
m o ld y o u r g r a n d c h ild ,” she
said. “A s a g ran d p aren t, you
step back and say ‘I ju s t w ant
you to be happy and be a good,
p ro d u c tiv e c itiz e n .’ I t’s hard
to teach a kid to ride a bike
w hen y o u ’re 50 years old, but
y o u ’re m ore likely to sit w ith a
child doing ho m ew o rk .”
Beyond her ow n finances, C ol
ander has to begin thinking about
her grandson’s future car insur
ance and college fund.
“E m otionally, it’s a very hard
place to be. I’m lucky that I
w as y o ung en o u g h w hen I
started to still have energy and
sta m in a ,” she said. “ I do not
know a single gran d p aren t w ho
w ould not give up the role o f
raisin g a gran d ch ild , but w hen
a p aren t is e n d an g erin g th eir
ch ild ren by w hat th e y ’re doing
w ith drugs and alcohol and v io
lence — they d o n ’t have the
right to do th a t.”
For more inform ation on this
issue, visit w w w .aarp.org/or.
ThrnOfFTV
Event for Kids
The popular “Kill Your Televi
sion,” bumper sticker may not be
what the YMCA in Vancouver had
in mind, but they are urging people
to at least turn it off.
Too many hours watching TV or
staring at a computer is contribut
ing to an obesity epidemic, espe
cially in children. In response, the
Clark County Family YMCA, the
2005 Leadership Clark County
Youth Project Team and Kaiser
Permanente are challenging local
residents to turn off their TV.
The YMCA at 11324 N.E. 51st
Circle in Vancouver will open its
doors to all Clark County residents
for a free family night on Friday,
April 29 from 6 to 9 p.m.
“We just want to get kids and
families moving. Turning off the
tube is a great first step towards a
healthier tomorrow," said YMCA
Senior Program Director Shawna
Care.
The YMCA will offer diverse
recreational activities such as tae
kwon do and rock climbing.
“We and other local sponsors of
TV Turnoff Week encourage ev
eryone to try a healthy physical
activity instead of sitting at the
computer or watching television,”
says Dr. Rasjad L ints, K aiser
Permanente’s chief of pediatrics.
“Each hour that a child watches TV
increases his or her risk of becom-
i ng overweight. Chi ldren bum fewer
calories, and many consume high-
calorie foods while watching TV.”
School Violence
Hotline Working
(AP) — A new statewide 24-
hour hot line and Web site for re
porting school violence in Oregon
is intended to head off incidences
such as the recent school shooting
in Minnesota.
Oregon is especially sensitive to
school violence in the wake of Kip
K inkel's 1998 rampage through
Thurston High School in Spring-
field which killed two students and
injured 25 others.
Ribbon of Promise emphasizes
the role students can play in pre
venting future deadly incidents
because they are most likely to hear
of a classmate’s plans.
The new hot line and Web site
are intended to help ease the re
porting process. Students and par
ents are urged tocall 866-305-7745,
o r file a re p o rt o n lin e at:
www.oregonschoolsafety.com.