A Guide to Understanding Grandchildren Being Raised by Grandparents
"Parenting Skills"

• The Grandparents Resource Center has professionally developed an online distance learning parenting program designed especially for grandparents raising their grandchildren who are unable to go to regular parenting classes in the community.  Our parenting program is much different than other parenting programs  which only address problems facing the children.  A Guide to Understanding Grandchildren Being Raised by Grandparents "Parenting Skills" goes much deeper to explain the problems being faced by grandparents who are raising grandchildren which have experienced abuse, abandonment and other childhood traumas. Our comprehensive program includes the following:
• Issues in Raising Special Needs Grandchildren                                                                    
• Stigmatization of Kinship Grandmother Motherhood                                                
• Grief & Loss Issues                                                                                                                
• Extended Family Member Issues                                                      
• Behavioral Alienation from the Grandchild                                                                            
• Family of Origin Issues                                                                                                          
• Kinship Grandmothers in Particular                                                                                       
• Culmination of Stress
• Marital Issues
• Emotional Factors                                                                                                                  
• Issues Facing Kinship Grandmothers                                                                        
• Financial Factors                                                                                                                   
• Grandchild Behavioral Factors                                                                                              
• Other

Our goal is to work with grandparents who are seeking legal custody of their at risk grandchildren. By learning the skills listed above, grandparents will feel better prepared to parent their at risk grandchildren who are living with them. The program teaches grandparents the importance of good parenting skills so that grandchildren feel safe, and the grandparent feels more in control.

This program was designed and implemented by professionals with one or more of the following: Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Forensic Psychologist.  The author is a Paralegal with 21 years of expertise in Grandparent legal issues, who adopted and raised her own at risk grandchildren to adulthood; one which had Asperger's Syndrome; the other abandonment/anger issues stemming from being placed into foster care at an early age.

We take our parenting program very seriously and we expect the same dedication from our participating grandparents.

Grandparents must register for the program and work through the comprehensive material at their own pace. They will be required to read the course material,  A Guide to Understanding Grandchildren Being Raised by Grandparents "Parenting Skills" and take intermittent open ended questionnaires to evaluate their progress in learning the material. Grandparents are also required to pass an overall comprehensive exam before applying for a certificate of completion. Grandparent students are supported and monitored in their learning process by certified and dedicated team instructors.

Please feel free to visit or contact us on our web site www.grc4usa.org. All correspondence will be returned by one of the program developers.

Sincerely,

Shirley M. Berens, MHR, MNM, Paralegal
Grandparents Resource Center
Denver, CO 80227
303-980-5707
www.grc4usa.org
grc4usa@aol.com

"Parenting your grandchild will never be easy, especially a hurt abandoned grandchild. But, the rewards will be great if done with honesty, integrity and love.  Many generations following will benefit by all your efforts.  It only takes one person in a child's life, whether a grandparent, family friend or teacher to make a huge difference. Let that person be you."

(Shirley M. Berens, 2011)