Family Stories

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Anna and Carl had planned for their retirement. They had worked and saved and had managed to purchase the modest home where they had raised their three children. Over the course of a few months Anna and Carl found themselves parenting their four grandchildren after their daughter was sent to prison. The grand children ranged in age from 4 to 10 and Anna and Carl could not bear the thought that the children might be placed in foster care. Anna and Carl, both in their late 60’s, suddenly were parents of four children under the age of 10. The money they had saved for retirement was gone within the first year of the children being in their care. They received less than $200 per month for each child from welfare benefits. It was not enough to pay for health care, food, clothing, and school costs for four growing children. The children are living with family where they are loved and well cared for but the family struggles to make ends meet each month. Sometimes the ends do not meet and there are many things that the children do not have.