The Widener meeting is for families headed by grandparents. Four million children live in such families. It helps tremendously to be able to talk to other people going through this. Kathy Schank, a social worker with Community Service, said the nonprofit Media-based group annually serves about 150 families headed by grandparents.
Grandparents respond first with their hearts by stepping in to provide for the grandchildren.
Nationally, about four million children from all social, economic and racial backgrounds live with grandparents, Schank said. Grandparents seek custody because of parental problems including an unstable home life, drug addiction, mental illness, chronic illness, and death. They received custody of three of their grandchildren in 1995. Twice a month Family Community Service's Second Time Around Parents program, founded in 1990, hosts 10 free meetings, seven for grandparents and three for their grandchildren, at seven locations in four Delaware County towns. The program hosts a weekly grandparent stop-in center as well as family activities and holiday programs.