Trinia Green had to quit her full-time job and her retired husband, Ed, had to go back to work so that they could raise Trina's three young grandsons - a situation neither of them expected to find themselves in after their 60th birthdays.
The Greens and many other grandparents in similar situations have to forfeit their golden years
medication and respite to care for their children's children because the state's cash assistance program offers them half of what Athens County Job and Family Services officials estimate is needed to raise a child.
I get one check for $434 a month for all three boys to buy all of their school clothes to feed them to pay for sports and any other activity they do
Green said.
The Ohio Works First cash assistance program provides monthly financial support for families who meet federal poverty guidelines, but with $259 a month for the first child, Athens County Job and Family Services Director Jack Frech is insisting the state increase the amount by $100.
While the OWF amount decreases per child - $96 for the second and $79 for the third - foster parents receive a steady $600 a month for each child from a different federal fund, Frech said.
Grandparents on OWF can only gain foster parent status and receive the $600 a month if they take their own sons or daughters to court to relinquish legal custody, Frech said, adding that most people in this situation don't want to press such charges on their own children.
Morgan County resident Lyda Gunter has raised her 18-year-old grandson since birth and said that she didn't get certified as a foster parent because this would enable the state to move her grandson to a different foster home at any time. To keep her grandson she's had to sell a lot of her belongings and tap into her retirement account so much that by the time she actually retires she'll receive only $800 a month from Social Security.
I really cannot stress enough that grandparents need financial assistance
she said. We're all too old to go out and work 40 hours a week
and if we did
who would watch the kids? And we're not going to get top pay because we're older - we can maybe be the hostess at Burger King or something.
She said many of her friends in this situation have had to forego purchasing medication, heating their homes in the winter and buying food for themselves so they can sustain the children they're raising. Husbands have also left their wives because they can't take the stress of raising a young child at such an old age, she added.
We all think we're going to have our golden years and be able to mellow out and enjoy the remaining years of our lives
she said. I have a standing joke that maybe I'll get my platinum years.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a federal funding program, annually allocates $1.1 billion for state cash assistance, day care services and different temporary emergency assistance programs. Only a third of Ohio's funding is used on OWF, and Frech said that the Ohio House and Senate could afford to raise the cash assistance amount by $100 a month but don't because of the stigma of welfare.
Increasing the amount to $100 would not even cover the total expenses to raise a child, he said, estimating that it costs about $450 a month.
State Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, was unsuccessful two years ago when he tried to introduce a budget amendment that would increase OWF assistance. Now the prospect is even gloomier, he said, because the current administration spent the $500 million TANF surplus the state had two years ago mainly on child-care services.
He said he plans to introduce a budget amendment in about two weeks because the budget that the House passed last week includes nothing about raising OWF assistance or budgeting more of the money the state could use on assistance from TANF but spends on programs to help the poor.
Green said that she has doubts that the OWF amount will ever increase but she uses her faith in God to get her and her husband through their struggles.
We should get paid what the foster parents get paid
she said. That is the most unfair thing I've ever encountered that perfect strangers can take care of your kids
and they can get so much more money than us.
