ROCK grandparents Mpp Paul Miller Maggie Hughes Producer
 Raising Our Childrens Kids - Hamilton There is a support group in Hamilton called ROCK, (Raising Our Childrens Kids) that has found themselves suddenly cut off from Temporary Funding. These Grandparents are on a fixed income and were planning on retirement, until they found out that if they did not step in and raise their grandchildren, the children would be lost to the Social System in Ontario. Most of these kids suffer from fetal alcohol syndrome or worse and are not likely to be adopted or see a decent foster home. Being on a fixed income while trying to raise special needs kids means scrambling to pay for education help and medicine. At one time they could rely upon the Ontario Temporary Care funding program, until some, and only some of these Grandmas in Hamilton started to be cut off. When they investigated, they found that the policy directives could be interpreted by each city in Ontario differently. Hamilton and Ottawa were cutting the funds, while other Ontario cities supplied the needed money. When they asked NDP critic Paul Miller to help them, he took the matter to Legislature, only to see the Minister of Social Services Madam Meillure re-write the policy to cut off all Grandparents in Ontario. At the same time the CAS (Childrens Aid Society) demanded that if these Grandparents wanted to keep their family together, they had to apply for permanent custody. Caught between conflicting policies and without help in any form for fetal alcohol children, these Grandparents don't know where to turn next. This audio explains the situation.
Grandparents cut off needs funding for raising their grandchildren
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