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Exemplifying Compassion
If you happen to be a kinship caregiver living in the Virginia, Minnesota area, count yourself lucky. You have Shirley McKibbon on your side.
McKibbon is a mentor with Raising Our Children’s Kids (ROCK) who, has since last December, volunteered more than 150 hours lending a friendly shoulder to lean on to those raising children of kin.
“Shirley’s compassion, patience, and experience are invaluable to caregivers,” reports Marcie Mehle, ROCK’s coordinator.
McKibbon, 72, has been, for three years, a parent to three of her grandchildren.
She credits ROCK for assisting her to successfully weather difficult times. “ROCK was an anchor for me. Meeting with others and having someone to talk with who knew the heartaches and the joys was so important,” she says.
Now, McKibbon is giving back. “I know how alone grandparents can feel. I want to reach out and help them.”
McKibbon is one of 16 volunteers with MKCA’s Mentor Program, funded through a grant from the Minnesota Board on Aging in cooperation with the Area Agencies on Aging and coordinated by various Minnesota agencies.
ROCK is a program of the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency, Inc., an organization strengthening communities by providing opportunities to people experiencing social and economic challenges.
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Message from the Executive Director
Unplanned Parenthood II
If you’re a kinship caregiver or someone who provides services to kinship families, I encourage you to attend Unplanned Parenthood II,” a statewide conference co-sponsored by MKCA.
The conference will be held Monday, Oct. 6, at the Earle Brown Continuing Education Center, on the University of Minnesota’s Saint Paul Campus, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
We’re excited that the University of Minnesota’s Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare is working with us and co-sponsoring the event.
We’ve planned the conference to benefit grandparents and third party custodians, attorneys, social workers, guardians ad litem, child protection workers, custody evaluators, judges, and other professionals working with kinship families.
The keynote speaker will be Donna Butts, Executive Director of Generations United. Through its National Center on Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children, Generations United, headquartered in Washington, D.C., seeks to improve the quality of life of caregivers and the children they’re raising.
Ted Thompson, licensed psychologist and family therapist in private practice, will speak on the attachment, bonding, and behavorial issues commonly found when children are abandoned or neglected by their parents.
Break-out sessions held throughout the day will focus on such topics as the legal and emotional issues facing kinship families and on available public benefits, such as MFIP and Medical Assistance.
The registration fee for kinship caregivers is $26. For professionals, the fee is $85, with a $10 early bird discount if registered by Sept. 5. Applications for CEUs and CLEs are being submitted.
Registration information will be mailed in August.
To register, you may contact Anne Preston, 612-624-4231, APRESTON@che.umn.edu. To get more information, you may contact me at 651-917-4641, lynn@mkca.org.
I’m looking forward to meeting you at Unplanned Parenthood II.
Lynn Weir, Executive Director
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New Custody Law Signed by Governor
A bill modifying last year’s Defacto Custodian and Interested Third Party Law was recently signed into law by Governor Tim Pawlenty.
The defacto law sets forth three avenues to obtain custody: by a custody consent decree; as a defacto custodian; or as an interested third party.
The law allows third parties, in specific circumstances, to approach the court on a basis equal to parents for the purposes of gaining custody of a child.
A defacto custodian is defined as someone who has cared for a child, without a parent's consistent participation, for a period of six months or more if the child is younger than three years, and for a period of one year or more if the child is three years or older.
The new law clarifies that the time period need not be consecutive; it can be cumulative.
“The clarifying language was needed because many caregivers care for children for extended periods of time with only sporadic parent involvement,” says Laurie Hanson, MKCA’s president. “The new law helps ensure that children can remain where they’re nurtured, cared for — the place they call home.”
Regarding custody consent decrees, the new law allows for someone other than a relative to gain custody as a third party.
Finally, the new law assures due process protection for all involved in custody cases.
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Person to Person: Grandma on a Mission
Not taking “no” for an answer has earned Sharon Olson the moniker “Grandma on a Mission.”
For nearly 10 years, Sharon and her husband, Gregg, have been raising two granddaughters.
“We hadn’t planned on this,” comments Sharon. “I quit my job as an optician to care for them, and we forgot about the trips we had planned and the activities we participated in.”
They encountered obstacle after obstacle, Immigration Services being the first. “One of the girls has disabilities, and is a British citizen. Immigration Services wanted to deport her to Great Britain, where she would have lived her life in an institution,” says Sharon.
As is her practice of using almost any tactic to draw the attention her grandchildren warrant, Sharon attached the children’s photo to documents sent to Immigration.
“Seeing their little faces tugged at the heart of the woman who handled our case,” says Sharon. “She found a loophole to keep my granddaughter in the U. S.”
Sharon fights to get the children assistance they desperately need, such as MFIP and special education services.
“Most programs, such as MFIP, are established for families where there is a parent and a child,” says Sharon. “Families like mine are square pegs trying to fit in round holes.”
Sharon reports that the idea Minnesota’s defacto custody law, enacted law year, came when she was researching what other states were doing and discovered Kentucky had such a law. She brought Kentucky’s law to the attention of others, and the ball started rolling.
Pointing to the defacto law’s enactment, Sharon proudly states, “Grandparents can make a difference — not only in the lives of the children, but in the laws and policies directly affecting their families.
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