Grandparents raising children get help

 

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Arnold Gomez with the Texas Health and Human Services Commission is pictured with Father James Stembler, VG.
 

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The 18th Annual Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children Conference held on Sept. 20 was the most well attended event yet, according to Stephanie Bonilla who heads the Office for Safe Environment and Child and Family Resources in the Diocese of Corpus Christi. There were more than 300 people who attended the event in the Watergarden Room at the American Bank Center.
 
The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, otherwise known as Child Protective Services, sponsors the annual event. This year they included information assistance for disaster response related to Hurricane Harvey.
 
Father James Stembler, Vicar General for the diocese, gave the invocation and read the "Prayer for Grandparents," by Pope Benedict XVI.
 
"My office participates every year, because that's how we get a lot of our resources and referrals, contacts we then provide to our diocesan families," Bonilla said. "The diocese has the most current up to date relevant pieces of referral and resource information to then give our families through my office."
 
The conference offered grandparents and other relatives who are raising children a way for them to network with each other, especially if they are not computer savvy, so they can get resources on medical or legal issues, being advocates in schools and volunteering.
 
According to Bonilla, children are away from their parents for a number of reasons other than abuse or neglect; their parents could be in the military, incarcerated or living with their parents.
 
"So all of that brings about grandparents, probably retired, who are having to fully support a child. They have an added financial burden and physical, emotional and mental stress," Bonilla said.
 
"What we have seen is that the best way to support families like these is to offer events like this, so they can see what is out there for them to seek some advocacy and support," Bonilla said. “That's what they really need—to see other people like themselves who are doing it."
 
Felipa Wilmot, Caregiver Program Specialist with Area Agency on Aging, said that the diocese is a partner with them in their endeavor to get the information out to the public and to people in the pews.
 
Future upcoming events will be posted under the Office for Safe Environment and Child and Family Resources on the diocesan website and under calendar events on the South Texas Catholic website.