Status of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Commission Meeting Minutes

Status of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Commission Meeting Minutes

MINUTES

Call-In Telephone No: 617-210-5457 Pass code: 115457

Date: February 13, 2012
Time: 2:00 – 4:00______
Place: Manning Conference Room
Recorder: Denise Bradley / Next Meeting (Date & Time): March 21st, 2:00 – 4:00
McCormack Building, 1 Ashburton Place, 5th Floor______
Manning Conference Room
Call-In Information –Line: 617.348.5200 Passcode: 145200

Attendance Key: Yellow:Attended in Person Green: By Phone Red: Absent Blue: Guest

Sandra Albright / John Lepper
Kerry Bickford / Jeff Quinn
Margo Chevers / Judith Roderick
Manuela DaCosta / Sheila Donahue-King
Connie Dilego / Lauren Morse, MSW – Families First Program Coordinator
Rep. Paul Donato
Ted Dubsky
Lynn Girton

Supplemental Materials:

Announcements – N/A / Handouts:GRGC Support Group Statewide Forum Proposal; Families First Program Informational Document
Subcommittee Notes – N/A

AGENDA ITEM

DISCUSSION / FINDINGS

DECISIONS/ACTION ITEMS/VOTES

Welcome & Updates / There being a quorum, the meeting was called to order by the Chair, John Lepper.
1st Agenda Item
Acceptance of January’s Minutes: / Motioned to Accept January 17th, 2012 minutes. / John Lepperentertained a motion to accept the January 17, 2012 minutes. It was so moved, seconded by Ted Dubsky, and passed unanimously to approve the minutes as written.
2nd Agenda Item:
OLD BUSINESS
Subcommittee Reports:
Finance Subcommittee Reports

Trust Fund:

Appropriation for the Commission

Appropriation for Indigent Legal Services

Announcement of Next Meeting Date, Time, and Place
Legal Subcommittee Reports
Support Group SubcommitteeReports –
Forum/Conference General Update
Athol Request
I/R Subcommittee
Families First Presentation / Pete stated that the trust fund is not officially up and running yet however ELD has submitted the draft declaration for trust for signature and it’s on the way to the final stages of being vetted. Pete anticipates that the trust will soon be available however he realizes that the mechanics of the trust account might not be squaring with the Commission’s expectations for utilizing it.
John stated that there are 3 commissions for special purposes, one being our own Commission, the other is the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), and the third is the Commission on LGBT Youth. John stated when you look at the language in each of three commissions’ statutes it’s exactly the same. Pete said he’s not too familiar with the 3rd Commission but he wants there to be an understanding that there’s a very clear difference between the GRGC Commission and the CSW. The CSW has an individual in its employ who is recognized as having agency head authority and with that the ability to act as the CFO for the agency. He’s fairly certain that the CSW’s director is probably the identified trustee of the trust account. In the GRGC trust fund, Secretary Hartstein is the designated trustee. Obviously it would be ideal if the Commission had the authority of a defacto agency then the commission head could be the trustee for the trust, but for now it has to be the Secretary of Elder Affairs. John had spoken to the Jill Ashton, CRW Director and he stated that she had indicated that she does do all the work required behind the bylaw for a state employee and he knows that the fact the GRGC Commission doesn’t have it’s own trustee is an issue. He asked if it would be difficult to establish one of the commissioners to have that authority. Pete stated that if the Commission was able to get a large enough appropriation then with that appropriation there would probably be someone who would be designated with agency head authority. He believes that once that designation is made and the person is compensated as a manager of the Commonwealth then at that point that person could then take on the responsibilities of trustee and EOEA could transfer the authority from Secretary Hartstein.
John stated that because this is a commission in perpetuity he’s happy that the trust will be set up however he believes it’s in the Commission’s best interest to set up “A Friends” organization as well. He stated that he hopes that in the meantime the commission can depend on both DCF and EOEA to help support the Spring Conference.
John charged the Finance Committee to look into establishing a 501c3. Lynn believes that it would be better not to have a stand alone 501c3 because she feels establishing one is complicated and time consuming and she would like to nominate Connie’s organization (Plymouth Council on Aging) as the “Friends” corporation. Sandy said she’ll check in with EOEA’s legal counsel about whether the Commission has the power to have a “Friends” arm.
John called for a discussion about the best way to focus on establishing the commission’s solvency moving forward and to decide whether or not the members wanted to rescind or seek the motion made at the last meeting to request an appropriation. He feels this is especially important because an appropriation will mean that somebody will have to be responsible for administrative duties. He believes that if the Commission got an appropriation large enough to have a part-time administrator it would make sense but it would be difficult to get a large appropriation at this time. Perhaps the members’ energies would be better spent on developing a “friends” arm which could address the commission’s current fiscal needs. Ted reminded the members that in order to establish a baseline for an appropriation, he was still waiting for some members to send their incurred expenses (mileage, parking, website, etc.) to him.
The members then had a discussion about the $20, 000 appropriation for legal services for indigent grandparents which will be used to fund the Grandparents Legal Hotline for people over 60 through the Legal Advocacy and Resource Center (LARC). LARC is also using their own funding to serve grandparents under 60. Paul Donato will need to know ASAP so he can file an appropriate amendment.
Paul Donato reported that he spoke to Bill Marchant at the Trial court and they are in the process of transferring the $20,000 to LARC for the hotline. LARC will start collecting data on February 1st and the plan is to get a report from Ms. Previdi mid-April. He was also asked if LARC is just getting the funding now would the Commission be waiting to next year to seek additional funding. John asked whether or not the Commissioners want to pursue an additional appropriation apart from the $20,000 for the Commission itself for the next fiscal year. Sandy stated that she feels we should hold off until we have collected the financial data/information needed and are ready to hire a part-time administrator. John stated that we also don’t want it to impact the $20,000 request. Paul agreed that it would be difficult to ask for additional funding to support an administrative position in this fiscal climate. The members are in agreement and feel they should hold off asking for a Commission appropriation but continue to move forward with the Friends.
John went over the polling results for the members’ availability for the months of March, April, May and June. After tallying up the results the following dates were agreed upon: Wednesday, March 21st; Monday, April 23rd; Wednesday, May 23rd; Monday, June 18th. All meetings will be held from 2:00 – 4:00 and will be held in EOEA’s Manning Conference room. As there may be a conflict in the Manning for March and April, Denise will check into whether or not another room is available. Manuela also offered to inquire if there’s DCF room availability for those dates. She and Denise will confer if needed. June 13th is the scheduled date for the conference and the members discussed whether they may in fact use 6/13 instead of 6/18 as a meeting date. This will be determined at a later time but for now 6/18 is June’s scheduled date.
Lynn stated that LARC has committed to serving both grandparents over and under 60 through the hotline in accordance with their poverty guidelines. Grandparents who are under 60 should call the main hotline(617-603-1700 or 1-800-342-LAWS). People 60 and older are not subject to income guidelines. Lynn also reported that the 1-Pager (Grandparent’s You are Not Alone) was approved by Eileen Mitchell in Judge Carey’s office with one minor detail which she forwarded to Kerry and Manuela. Lynn believes the whole point of getting their approval was so that they would then disseminate it. They also brought up that it should be translated into specific multiple languages. There was a discussion about how best to translate the flyer. Ted suggested using Google Translate Once the flyer is translated the members will have a translator proof it before publishing.
Sheila discussed the Support Group’s proposal for the upcoming statewide Support Group Forum that she sent to the members. The forum is scheduled to be held at Worcester State College on Wednesday, June 13th from 8:00 – 5:00. She asked if there were any comments, questions or suggestions on the proposal. The members agreed that at first blush the proposal looked good. Sheila stated the subcommittee is still working on the logistics of the forum format, panel discussions, drumming up support and advertising. Sheila also wants to research the most frequently asked questions to make sure that the right resources are available and how best to approach possible panelists. In order get the support groups invested, Sheila will send them a survey to make sure this is something they interested in having. Last week an email went out to all the COA’s asking if they’re aware of any support groups in their catchment area as well as asking for potential content and information and whether they would have any interest in attending the forum. Although they only got 8 responses they were able to identify 4 more support groups that they didn’t know about. The target audience is people who are facilitating groups or are interested in starting a group as well as funders. Although grandparents will be invited through their support groups the thought was to start with the leadership and perhaps next year extend it to a larger audience. There will also be tables available for resources. Sheila stated that one of the purposes of having this forum is to possibly re-establish the Grandparents Resource Network and this will be a great forum to discuss that as a possible target. The cost of the event should be minimal at a cost of approximately 15.00/per person. This would cover – name tags, packets, morning refreshments and lunch. They expect around 80 people so the total would be approximately 1,200.00. The committee will be coming out with the promotional materials and will start thinking about sending out a save the date to their targeted audience. DCF and EOEA will be sent a proposal to fund the forum.
Jeff sent an email regarding a request from Athol to start a support group.
Kerry reported that now that the 1 pager has been completely vetted, DCF has agreed to make 1,000 color copies. The second flyer the subcommittee is working on is the DCF vs. Direct Custody piece. This second flyer has been reworked so that DCF is on one side of the page and Direct Custody is on the flip side instead of it being in 2 columns. Kerry has been asked whether there’s a difference between the two flyers. She stated that the custody flyer is more detailed about custody/ placement issues than the 1 pager which has more general info. The second flyer was designed to educate grandparents about what placement will mean for them and how it can possibly affect some services/vouchers they/child(ren) may already have.
Kerry also reported that she has been participating in webinars with the National Committee of Grandparents for Children’s Rights. Seven people from across the country have been participating as well. The group had looked at the GRGC website and was impressed on how much work Massachusetts has accomplished on behalf of grandparents and has used some of the content. Kerry has also gotten a lot of interesting info from them as well. The latest webinar was a legal webinar. She received a PowerPoint but can’t share it at this time as the group is contemplating on making their materials available for a small fee. She feels the info will be helpful and will keep the commission posted on its availability.
John welcomed Lauren Morse, MSW and Families First’sProgram Coordinator. Families First’s mission is to build positive relationships between parents and their children by educating both families and the professionals through hands-on workshops mostly in eastern Massachusetts. They received a grant to offer workshops to grandparents who are parenting again and/or caregiving for children whose parents have been incarcerated. These workshops are free or offered at a very low cost. The facilitators are themselves grandparents parenting again and a lot of them are lifetime educators. The first series is setup to specifically reflect people’s new role as grandparents although some grandparents would rather jump straight into the parenting content – dealing with teens, risky behaviors, communication, etc. First Families partner with organization or support groups and find a topic, time and place that work best and subcontract facilitators to come to you. This way it can be easily incorporated into meeting/conference schedules. The workshops are also offered in Spanish and Haitian Creole and usually run around 90 minutes. The grant runs now through the Spring so if anyone is interested they should schedule now. The members thanked Ms. Morse for her presentation and thought the agency’s work would be really helpful to grandparents. She was asked permission to put the agency’s info on the GRGC’s website. / John asked Lynn to check in with Rosa. Previdi (LARC Executive Director) to find out whether she’ll need funding to keep the hotline running this year.
The members unanimously decided:

The GRGC commission instructs Paul Donato to seek the $20,000 appropriation for legal help to indigent grandparents;
The GRGC commission rescinds its previous approved motion to seek an additional commission appropriation for this fiscal year;
The GRGC Commission charged the Fiscal Sub-committee to go forward with establishing a Friends’ account.

Manuela will follow up with Jeff on the Athol request.
Ms. Morse’s contact information is below:
Families First Parenting Pro.
Lauren Morse, MSW Pro. Coord.
99 Bishop Allen Drive
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-868-7687 x 15

Ms. Morse will inquire whether it’s permissible to publish details on her agency’s info on the GRGC’s website and will get back to Kerry with a response.
Meeting Adjourned / Meeting Adjourned / There being no further business a motion was made and seconded to adjourn.