Kin
C.A.N. (“Kinship Caregiver Assistance Network”)
Addressing
the needs of grandparents and other elders raising young relative
children, many of whom have been abandoned, neglected or abused by
birth parents.
Advocates estimate that
more than 60,000 children in Philadelphia are being raised by
relative caregivers, primarily grandparents and other elderly
family members. This accounts for 1 in 6 children in
our community. Most have been abused, neglected or abandoned
by their birth parents. These children are the innocent
victims of their parents’ drug addiction, incarceration,
violence, illness or death. Thousands of grandmothers and
other elders have risen to the occasion to offer these children a
home, and assuming the role of parent in their 60’s, 70’s and
80’s, to ensure that these kids receive medical care, an
education, and the stability, affection, and sense of family they
need to survive. These elders -- known as kinship
caregivers -- are our clients and the children they are caring
for are the focus of our services.
Through its Kin C.A.N.
program, SeniorLAW Center provides essential assistance to elderly
grandmothers and relatives raising young children whose birth
parents are unable to care for them. Not surprisingly, an
enormous number of these elder caregivers are also struggling
themselves financially, many living solely on Social Security of
$750 or less per month.
SeniorLAW Center’s Kin C.A.N.
Program has been assisting older relative caregivers raising young
children since 1993. The Kin C.A.N. Program helps young
children remain with loving grandparents in caring and supportive
homes. Through Kin C.A.N., SeniorLAW Center provides direct legal
representation, counseling and advocacy services for hundreds of
elderly grandparents and other caregivers on custody, support,
visitation, protection from abuse, and the wide array of other
issues vital to their daily lives, such as housing, financial
stability, and planning for their and their children’s future
care. SeniorLAW Center also educates elderly caregivers throughout
Philadelphia’s neighborhoods on their rights and interest
through community-based workshops and seminars, and links them
with other needed information and human services.
Through Kin C.A.N.,
SeniorLAW Center enriches the lives of both our elderly clients and the
young grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and other young
relatives they have taken under their care.
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