A program that helped Pueblo County’s unsung heroes navigate the complicated path of raising their grandchildren is finally on its doorstep after 24 years of helping non-traditional families stay strong.
Hope for Children, introduced in 1998 as one of the state’s first Stable and Secure Family sites in Pueblo County, has brought welcome relief to the strain on the foster care system.
“Every county had one back then and now we’re one of the few sites left,” said Leslie Kammeier, executive director. “We have been in the middle of preserving and strengthening the circle of relatives of other people and heroes in the community. “
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“These families take charge and welcome those young people when they are in a position to retire, and then they finish their days by going from appointment to appointment, treatment sessions, coping with illnesses and feeding tubes. During COVID, they had to browse online. school and help with homework and are the last to ask for anything and the ultimate grateful people. “
“This is such an exclusive and maximum population ignored,” she said, drowned to tears. “We’ve worked with grandparents raising grandchildren and other members of the family circle who have mobilized to care for a child when parents couldn’t or wouldn’t. “
A loss of investment forced the organization to close its doors.
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Kammeier said Pueblo County has a consistent capita rate of grandparents raising their grandchildren in the state.
“I think it’s still that way. Otherwise, it’s the second,” Kammeier said.
Children “do much better when they’re with family,” she said.
One of the children, Reese, was six months old when her grandparents Chris Bidy-Kelly and Pete Kelly began raising her.
“It was a struggle for a while there. I was looking to save my daughter and protect my grandson at the same time and this organization stored my life and that of many of us,” Bidy-Kelly said. “This organization helped me and then being able to share our delight with a new user who would come fit to be tied up and pull out their hair was a blessing. “
Fast forward 151/2 later and “value it,” he said. Now Reese is self-employed, has her own car, and worked for a year in addition to going to school.
His mother worked beyond his problems and a component of his life and “turned out to be a glorious human being,” Bidy-Kelly said.
The coronavirus pandemic alone, Hope for Children, a team of 4 staff members and five volunteers, served 230 families.
“It’s been tricky in recent months. We even did in-person installations with small scattered groups,” he told 801 W. 4th Street, Suite #104.
Family attorney Dorothy Aragon worked for the firm for five years and Teresa Baros, head of child care services, has been with child care for 22 years. Over the years, the firm has won state awards, and Kammeier’s husband, Pete Kammeier, named the state’s Paternity Practitioner of the Year five years ago.
To date, it has graduated 3,200 fathers to their parenting classes.
The firm has helped families navigate through social service programs, court hearings, get the social and emotional they need, training, and even swap clothes for children’s clothing. Courses for trauma-informed parents have been presented with partners such as Health Solutions and Spanish Peaks Mental Salud.
Social teams allow grandparents to lean on each other, give advice, and become friends in similar situations. The firm organized a circle of family activities and New Year’s Eve celebrations to publicize those social ties.
One of the agency’s most beloved programs, the Group Respite Program, gives caregivers a few hours of free time to see a friend, go to the movies, or recharge their batteries. through Hope for Children staff.
The final organisational programme will take place on 14 December.
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The firm has ended its doors due to the loss of grant funds. He won for years the $120,000 “Promoting Safe and Stable Families” grant from the Colorado Department of Human Services.
The grant application requires a letter from the Pueblo County Department of Social Services, however, the request for the letter was rejected and sent to Catholic Charities. It was complicated for agency workers to make the resolution to close, but “this subsidy was our bread and jam,” he explained.
Bidy-Kelly said he “is really sad to see this show disappear. “
“We were a style site that met or exceeded all the spaces of our grant and we worked long hours,” Kammeier said. “I’m not going to avoid running for those families, I’m going to defend kinship rights. “
“This is a domain that requires attention across the country. These other people are in poor health and worry about their own children and then have to worry about raising their grandchildren,” she explained.
“I feel revered to have been in paintings with this population and to see those young people grow and succeed,” Kammeier said.
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Lead journalist Tracy Harmon covers economic news. She can be reached by email at tharmon@chieftain. com or by Twitter at twitter. com/tracywumps.