REPORT
ON THE OPSO
GRANDPARENTS HAVE NO RIGHTS... FORUM
November 2002
This Forum was attended by a strong
mixture of grandparents and voluntary groups, the legal profession
and government as well as Centrelink.
Opened by Cate Molloy MP, deputising for
Families Minister the Hon. Judy Spence MP, the Forum looked for solutions
to the issues found by OPSO's research (see below).
The outcome was the establishment of a
working party made up of grandparents and professionals who will become
a peak voice for grandparent groups in the belief that only by a united
voice can their needs be successfully addressed. Facilitated by OPSO
and Connect the Coast personality Tracey Douglas, the working party
followed the recommended solutions of the Forum. It used these to
plan strategies for a campaign to get a non-parental guardianship
allowance, respite, and facilities for getting information on legal
matters and medical and emotional support. The establishment of more
support groups will also be given priority.
OPSO Gradparenting
Report
September 2002
The following is a report on the research
by Older People Speak Out gathered over the last 12 months from across
Queensland.
Grandparents for the purposes of this report
are divided into:
The findings are the results of Speak Outs
and meetings held in Brisbane and the Gold Coast, interviews with
individual grandparents, meetings with grandparents at support groups
and other meetings on the Sunshine Coast, Gold Coast, Brisbane, the
Redlands, Logan and North Queensland, and meetings with Torres Strait
Islanders and Brisbane Aboriginal elders. Surveys were distributed
through 60 and Better groups, and other OPSO networks across the state.
Findings
At the end of last year there were two
grandparent support groups. In September there are eight new groups,
with requests from across the state to GAGS and OPSO for assistance
in setting up a network of groups statewide.
Survey results show a spread of all four
categories of grandparents throughout the state.
They can be prioritised as follows:
Support groups which include a newsletter,
Financial assistance … a non-parental guardianship allowance
Legal rights and services and information on these.
Support health services for the children – emotional, psychological
and physical
Information on education, parenting and child behaviour
Respite services
For privacy reasons, grandparents from
smaller towns preferred newsletter links with support groups, rather
than setting up local groups, while in bigger centres support groups
were a major need.
Grandparents reported a variety of concerns,
some common to most grandparents mentioned above, some specific to
each group. These include:
-
Emotional, physical and financial hardship.
-
An urgent need for a non-parental guardianship
allowance for those grandparents caring for grandchildren outside
of Family Services.
-
A need to ensure that, in practice,
the safety, welfare and well-being of the child are paramount over
the rights of the parent.
-
Lack of legal rights and services and
lack of information on those that do exist.
-
Some situations of elder and child
abuse both emotional and physical.
-
A need for free counselling services,
particularly for emotionally traumatised children, and for crisis
intervention teams for these children.
-
Lack of understanding of the grandparents'
situations by parents.
-
Grandparent burn-out.
-
Complaints in relation to attitude
and decision-making by some regional staff in the Department of
Families and some lack of support staff continuity.
-
Allegations of severe lack of funding
to effectively staff this area and lack of consultation with grandparents
on policy and practice.
-
A strong feeling that grandparents
caring for grandchildren full time outside of state guardianship
are being discriminated against because they do not receive the
financial assistance given to those with in the Families' system.
-
A need for Centrelink to train its
staff so that advice given to grandparents is consistent throughout
the state.
-
A lack of respite for grandparent carers.
-
A lack of financial assistance for
education costs and tutoring for children with learning difficulties.
-
Ageist attitudes across government
departments
Note: Special
need: An urgent need to ascertain the number of grandparents carrying
out a full parenting role.
WHAT IS A GRANDPARENT?
The following quotes are said to
be taken from papers written by a class of 8-year-olds:
-
Grandparents are a lady and a man who
have no little children of her own. They like other people's.
-
A grandfather is a man & a grandmother
is a lady!
-
Grandparents don't have to do anything
except be there when we come to see them. They are so old they shouldn't
play hard or run. It is good if they drive us to the shops and give
us money.
-
When they take us for walks, they slow
down past things like pretty leaves and caterpillars.
-
They show us and talk to us about the
colour of the flowers and also why we shouldn't step on ‘cracks’.
-
They don't say, "Hurry up."
-
Usually grandmothers are fat but not
too fat to tie your shoes.
-
They wear glasses and funny underwear.
-
They can take their teeth and gums
out.
-
Grandparents don't have to be smart.
-
They have to answer questions like
"why isn't God married?" and "How come dogs chase
cats?".
-
When they read to us, they don't skip.
They don't mind if we ask for the same story over again.
-
Everybody should try to have a grandmother,
especially if you don't have television because they are the only
grown-ups who like to spend time with us.
-
They know we should have snack-time
before bedtime and they say prayers with us every time and kiss
us even when we've acted bad.
-
A six-year-old was asked where his
grandma lived: “Oh,” he said, “she lives at the
airport and when we want her we just go get her, then when we're
done having her visit, we take her back to the airport.”
-
Grandpa is the smartest man on Earth!
He teaches me good things but I don't get to see him enough to get
as smart as him!
-
It's funny when they bend over, you
hear gas leaks and they blame their dog.
