By Stephen Smoot

As the nation starts National Child Abuse Awareness Month, it remains important to honor and recognize those who give the most. Many projects work to fill the big needs, such as providing a safe and secure place to live with caring individuals. Others try to fill in those “gaps” of service where a child can fall right through the cracks.

Their search for a caring face or an understanding mentor could lead them right into the wrong crowd, doing the wrong things, and ending up in the wrong places.

Jenny Rogers represents the AmeriCorps Seniors Grandparents program. She shared that “since 1965, we are the best kept secret.”

When most think of AmeriCorps, they usually first envision college-aged (but not necessarily attending college) young adults seeking both field experience and also opportunities to improve the world around them.

Most do not know that AmeriCorps also operates three senior programs. These are the Retired Senior Volunteer program (or RSVP), Senior Companion Program, and Foster Grandparent Program.

“What we do is attempt to find people 55 and older, usually to go into schools to help the children that are falling behind,” explained Rogers.

“Falling behind” can cover a lot of ground of potential issues. It could mean simply that a child has encountered trouble in a basic skill, such as reading or math, and needs a little extra help and encouragement to overcome it.

Rogers went on to state that teachers with full classrooms to guide and teach do not always have the time or the ability to reach a child one on one “to give them the attention they are needing,” says Rogers.

While sometimes, a child’s academic problems come from an inability to understand the subject matter, in most cases the problems run much deeper.

Rogers stated that some families struggle to provide the support that children need to excel in school. That could take the form of a single, or both, parents working multiple jobs to make ends meet. They enjoy neither the time nor the energy to help with school or other problems because they are exhausted and overwhelmed themselves.

In other, sadder, examples, the parents, parent, or guardian has developed substance abuse, mental health, or a combination of both issues. In extreme situations, this can lead to child abuse or even a situation where the child must act as the responsible “adult” to take care of siblings, other children, or even the actual adults in the home.

“So many times, there’s nobody there to help the kids,” Rogers noted.

Here, the Foster Grandparent provides emotional support, advice, or connection to resources or authorities that can help them.

A Foster Grandparent can address a broad spectrum of needs. They can volunteer in any child care or educational setting from pre-kindergarten to high school seniors. As the materials shared by the program suggest, Foster Grandparents “help children who have been abused or neglected, mentor teenagers, and help with children who have special or exceptional needs.”

It goes on to state that “the heart of the program is the one-on-one daily attention that Foster Grandparents provide.”

Positive experiences with positive role models from the program help “young people grow, gain confidence, and become full and productive members of society.”

To participate, Foster Grandparents must meet income requirements, be at 55 years of age or older, can commit to at least five hours per week, and have respect, caring, and patience for children with sometimes quite unpredictable needs.

Those in the program will receive a tax-free stipend of $4.00 per hour, plus .50 cents per mile reimbursement for transportation. During times of service, they may receive accident and liability coverage, sick and vacation leave, plus preliminary and monthly ongoing training.

Rogers shared that she often must assure potential participants that this program does not have children coming and staying in seniors’ homes. Seniors provide service in educational or child care environments only.

Harrison County may be in Region Six Planning and Economic Development, but its Foster Grandparents Program is run out of Region Eight in Petersburg, Grant County. That office covers areas from Doddridge to Jefferson counties.

Anyone interested in participating or hearing more about the program can call Myra Vance at Region Eight Planning and Development Council’s Foster Grandparent Program Sponsor Myra Vance at (304) 257-1221.