Bahati Myhelatu Ansari, BA, CPS
Trainer/Receptionist
3500 Indian School Rd. NE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
(505)268-4973
(505)268-5056 Fax
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----- Original Message -----
From: "Bahati Myhelatu Ansari" <bahatis@aol.com>
To: <dgibson@nmpcr.org>; <AnnEdenfield@wingsministry.org>;
<Madigan@monomakh.com>; <bansari@nmpcr.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 06, 2009 12:05 PM
Subject: Fwd: News from the National Committee of Grandparents for
Children's Rights
Bahati Myhelatu Ansari
-----Original Message-----
From: National Committee of Grandparents for Children's Rights
<bcastellano@grandparentsforchildren.org>
To: bahatis@aol.com
Sent: Thu, Aug 6, 2009 10:03 am
Subject: News from the National Committee of Grandparents for
Children's Rights
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July/August 2009 Vol. 1 No. 3
In This Issue
From the President
The Nanas and the Papas
Around the Country
Very Special Person
Meet Patti Page
From the President...
It has been beautiful in Washington this summer. It is great to look up
at Mount Rainier. On a clear day it looks like a mural painted
on the sky and
you know that God is in His haven and all is well with
the
world. Then you have days when you get a
call from grandparents to hear that their eight year grandson was found
hanging
in a tree. They fought so hard to regain custody of their grandchildren
who
should never have been removed from them in the first place. I hope
somehow,
some way someone is held accountable. There are some things I'll never
understand. But I do know that together we can change the system and
make it a
better world for everyone.
In the past month I've worked with grandparents in Florida, North and
South Carolina,
Colorado, Oregon,
Tennessee, Virginia,
West Virginia and Washington. Our National Organization has
been asked by the legal aid of North
Carolina to submit an Americus Brief for a case they
are representing. We are working with several attorneys as we volunteer
to do
more and more legal research for lawyers willing to work with relative
care
givers for reduced rates. We have grandparents studying their state
laws and
learning that they do have a voice and how to use it. Some are learning
how to
write briefs, others are starting groups to learn more about their own
rights
as well as those of their grandchildren. It is really great to receive
e mails
from them filled with so much excitement for the things they are
learning and are
sharing with others. It is even more so knowing tha
t some of them did
not even
know how to turn on a computer a couple of months ago. It is amazing
how the
love of grandchildren can inspire grandparents.
Our National Organization was just recognized as children's
rights advocates in the state of NC, WV and WA state. This means we can
actually be present in the court with the persons for whom we are
advocating.
We will have approximately thirty-five pieces of legislation
being introduced in the next legislative session starting in January
2010 in at
least fifteen states, all involving the rights of children from their
right to
know their relatives and de facto parenting to their representation by
a guardian
ad litem. We are working very hard to get all states to use lawyers as
guardian
ad litems and to hold them to a high standard of service. It is hard to
accept
that some states do not require that the people who are representing
the best
interest of children do not have to have a law degree. It is even
harder to
understand that these people are not held accountable for what they
present in
court, or that most would not know their client if they step on them.
You would
think this would be of the utmost importance knowing that children can
lose
their families forever on the presumption that their appointed
representatives
always act in the child's best interest.
If you are interested, we will star
t an on-line meeting at
least once a month to help you get legislation started in your state. I
would
like to start working on some subjects that we really need to address.
The
first one is in almost all states is referred to as the "RESPONSIBLE
PERSON"
list. Should a caseworker "dislike you" or "think" you should be
punished, they
can put your name on the list and you can be denied jobs, custody of
children
etc. To get your name off of this list you must petition the court, pay
all of
the legal fees and prove you are innocent.
This is a violation of our constitutional rights, and we need to know if
your state has this practice.
I am wishing you a
great summer.
Lola Bailey
"The Nana's and the Papas
ain't what they used to be"
The Foundation for Grandparenting, in association with Theater 150, is
sponsoring
a musical production entitled "The Nanas and The Papas...ain't what they
used to be" featuring talented grandparents sharing their personal
stories
and singing the music of their times.
The purpose of the production is to:
Raise consciousness concerning the
importance of Grandparenting, emphasizing grandparents exclusive roles
as
"living ancestor," and "family historian" in an exciting and
entertaining way.
Demonstrate the diversity of
Grandparenting, and show that modern grand
parents "ain't what they used
to be,"
thus challenging aging stereotypes.
Develop
the project in Ojai, with the Foundation's goal of nationally
disseminating a
production "how-to" and demonstration video to organizations,
agencies, schools, religious institutions and regional theaters,
etc. for use by local performers.
The show is conceived and produced by Carol Kornhaber, and
written and directed by Betsy Randle. Performances are scheduled for
early
October 2009 at Theater 150 in Ojai.
The Foundation for Grandparenting, a 501(c) (3) tax-exempt
organization, was founded by Arthur Kornhaber M.D., who serves as its
Executive Director. The Foundation will fund the production through
tax-deductible sponsorships and
personal donations.
Tax-deductible contributions can be mailed to:
The
Foundation for Grandparenting
108
Farnham Road
Ojai, CA 93023
Read more about the Foundation's projects and programs since 1980 at
www.grandparenting.org.
Around the Country...
NEW JERSEY - GRANDMA K.A.R.E.S.
Monthly
support meeting of kinship and foster caregivers headed by Louise Eagle
(in yellow suit far right) Regional Director, New Jersey Chapter.
Grandma K.A.R.E.S. works to help those kinship and foster caregivers
who have accepted the mission of caring for children they did not give
birth to and have been abandoned or orphaned by their na
tural
parents. Each month there are two or three speakers --- professionals,
service provider, etc --- along with group sharing of experiences and
lessons with each other. For more information contact Louise Eagle.
TENNESSEE
We
are happy to report that our chapter leader Brenda LeQuire has
successfully
advocated for the passage of a De Facto law which provides changes to
their
existing foster care regulation. After several years of hard work this
wonderful piece of legislation was part of House Bill 327/Senate Bill
859. In
summary, the Tennessee Code now states that a child "Who has willfully
been left in the sole
financial care and sole physical care of a related caregiver for not
less than
eighteen (18) consecutive months by the child's parent, parents or legal
custodian to the related caregiver, and the child will suffer
substantial harm
if removed from the continuous care of such relative;.... the court
shall order the child to remain in the
related caregiver's custody if such an arrangement is in the best
interest of
the child". The bill was signed into law on June 1, 2009 by Governor
Phil Bredesen.
Important legislation such as this must be enacted in every state.
Modification or
termination of a related caregiver's custody, brought by the child's
biological
parent, should be based on a finding, by a preponderance of the
evidence, that
there has been a material change in current circumstances. Chi
ldren
should not be yanked from a loving caregiver's home just because a
non-involved
parent wants custody back. We advocate that all cases concerning
children must
be decided on a "best interest" test.
Congratulations to
Brenda for her many years of work on this law, and to Representative
Sherry
Jones who introduced the bill in the House. She has been a great
supporter of
kinship caregivers and Brenda's work. We want to thank Ms. Jones for her
continued support on behalf of children.
TEXAS
In another bit of good news, Texas HB 2084 which wouldhave
severely restricted access by grandparents to children who may be in
abusive
situations has been brought to a halt.
We can thank our vice president, Tommie Beck, and our new chapter
leader, Gail Gallagher, who both worked hard to stop this bill. They
did this
by having petitions signed, writing articles and getting the word out to
citizens and legislators that the passage of this bill would be harmful
to
thousands of children in Texas. Congratulations to
Tommie and Gail.
Very Special Person...
David L. Levy, J.D. is the Chief Executive
Officer of the Children's Rights Council, in Landover,
Maryland and a member of the
Board of Advisors for NCGCR. Mr. Levy is a national expert on
children
's rights
appearing on more than 200 television and radio stations, including
nationally
syndicated programs such as the "Today Show", "Good Morning America",
"Oprah",
"Montel Williams", "Charlie Rose", "Phil Donahue", MS/NBC, NPR, CNN,
and C-SPAN
reaching millions of households.
Mr. Levy is also frequently quoted in a richly
diverse cross-section of printed media with numerous articles appearing
in such
newspapers and journals as the Washington Post, New York Times, and
several
national religious news magazines. Additional to the mass media, Mr.
Levy has
hosted 15 national conferences, testified more than 20 times before
congressional committees; authored a popular book among
divorced/never-married
parents "The Best Parent is Both Parents®", and received a "lifetime
achievement award" from
the federal child support office in 2000.
The Children's Rights Council is a global non-profit child-advocacy
organization
that works to help children obtain frequent and continuing contact with
both
parents and extended families, despite the parents' marital situation.
CRC favors joint custody, mediation, parenting education, parenting
plans, and
counseling. CRC has chapters in most states and in seven other
countries
- Australia, Canada, France,
Israel, Japan, Switzerland,
and the United Kingdom.
CRC
believes strongly in intergenerational contact for children. That is
why
CRC is delighted that the Nati
onal Committee of Grandparents for
Children's
Rights (NCGCR) chose to affiliate with CRC several years ago. Lola
Bailey,
Brigitte Castellano and the other leaders of NCGCR are doing a fine job
of
representing to legislators, policymakers and other opinion makers
around the
country the need for continued connection between children and their
grandparents. Children need to hear the stories of the family that
grandparents are in a unique position to relate, to enjoy the extra
love and
care that grandparents can so wonderfully provide, and to gain
understanding of
the continuity of life from the older members of the family. These
are bonds that should be strengthened, for the sake of the child.
Also,
CRC operates 25 Access Centers in 11 states and Washington, D.C.
where parents can peacefully transfer their children between them. Many
of these centers also provide for supervised access (visitation) where
a parent
may not leave the premises with the child, because of a problem
involving neglect
or abuse. However, the child and parent are spending precious time
together in a supervised setting for three or four hours on a Saturday
morning,
until the larger legal issue can be worked out in the courts. This is
not
the best imaginable setting for interaction between child and parent,
but it is
better than the no-contact that might occur if access centers did not
exist
during a transition perio
d for some families.
CRC provides substantial information on its website at
www.CRCkids.org. If you can not find what you need on the website, or
if
you need a contact in a particular state to help with a custody or
access
(visitation) matter, email CRC at info@crckids.org, or phone at
301-459-1220. CRC has held numerous conferences, testified
before many Congressional committees, boards and commissions, and
helped many
parents, children and families during our 24 years of existence, and we
will
try to help you, if we can. Our focus is on demilitarizing the divorce
process, to keep children out of the middle of custody disputes, and
assuring
children frequent and continuing contact with both parents and contact
with
extended family. CRC also publishes a quarterly magazine entitled
"Children," available free to our members. Membership is only
$50 a year. Thanks to all of you who are child advocates wherever you
may be.
For more information on the
conference: click here.
Meet Patti Page
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Click image for more info:
Quote of the Day!
"What
children need most are the essentials that grandparents provide in
abundance. They give unconditional lo
ve, kindness, patience, humor,
comfort, lessons in life. And, most importantly, cookies".
~Rudolph
Giuliani
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