WILKES-BARRE – The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren’s (GRG) 15th annual conference of the NEPA Intergenerational Coalition took place on Friday, Oct. 21 at the Woodlands Inn was deemed a success by chairman of the event, Howard Grossman.
This year’s keynote speaker was Luzerne County Judge Jennifer Rogers who serves at the administrative judge of Family Court and Dependency Court.
Rogers oversees cases regarding child custody, divorce, dependency, Act 53, child/spousal support, termination of parental rights and adoption.
The 2022 agenda included: Judge Rogers, Pennsylvania Secretary of Aging Robert Torres, a morning specialty panel, Pa. State Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, a Lackawanna County legislator, and an afternoon legal panel with specializing attorneys.
GRG of Northeastern Pennsylvania is a nonprofit organization dedicated to offering both information and support to grandparents and other kinship caregivers and their families.
Conceived in 2004, there organizations of Luzerne County Human Services Dept., The Area Agency of Aging for Luzerne/Wyoming Counties, and Jewish Family Service of Greater Wilkes-Barre band together to form the GRG Coalition.
According to Grossman, there are over GRG 21,000 families currently living in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
Grossman said the Coalition has met difficult times over the past two year during the pandemic but were able to meet regularly via video conferencing but is glad to be back at the Woodlands for 2022.
“I feel this is important because this demographic is growing and not staying the way it is,” Grossman said. “Numbers are rising and the grandparents, or relative, that are taking care of grandchildren are growing in the state of Pennsylvania and nationally as well.”
Grossman said there are many reasons why grandparents, uncles, and aunts are taking over as primary caretakers of younger children.
“These caretakers have the primary responsibility of raising children because parents may be drug addicts, or alcoholism, teenage pregnancy, military deployment or even abandonment or other reasons.”
Grossman contends awareness of grandparents taking responsibility of grandchildren in northeast Pennsylvania has been much higher because the Coalition meeting and being very active.
“The conference brings a lot of people together,” Grossman said. “In 2018 and 2019, there were over 200 members of GRG families plus 40 resource tables to answer questions.”
More than 110 participants and 25 resources tables were present at this year’s conference.
Sponsors of the conference were: Area Agency of Aging for Luzerne/Wyoming Counties, Area Agency of Aging for Lackawanna County, Community Bank, Milton Hershey School, PNC Bank, Loftus-Vergari Associates, Pathway to Recovery, Children’s Service Center, United Way of Wyoming Valley, Pa. State Rep. Pashinski, Luzerne Foundation, and Carbon County Commissioners.
For further information on GRG, go online to: grgnepa.org.
