‘Grandfamily’ summit focus on law, kinship

‘Grandfamily’ summit focus on law, kinship — Maine News — Bangor Daily News

There are about 11,000 children in Maine being raised by family members other than their parents — aunts and uncles, grandparents, older siblings and others.

The challenges of being a “grandfamily” — the term that has been coined for such arrangements — are many, ranging from the physical difficulty older caregivers may have keeping up with active youngsters to legal issues of guardianship and custody. That’s why the Bangor nonprofit organization Families and Children Together has teamed up with the Center on Aging at the University of Maine and the Maine Volunteer Lawyers Project to present the third annual Maine Summit for Grandfamilies. The focus of this year’s event, to be held next month, is “The Law, Kinship and Children.”