Step Up Parents receives $5,000 from the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction

Step Up Parents recently received a $5,000 grant from the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction to provide financial support for kinship caregivers who have stepped up for children of parents with substance use disorder in New Hampshire and to build organizational capacity to keep pace with increased demand for assistance.

“Our board is grateful to Step Up Parents for their continued efforts to support kids in our community,” said Jaimie Sousa, chair of the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction board.

Relative caregivers are stepping up in record numbers for children. “One of the consequences of Covid-19,” reports Denyse Richter, President of Step Up Parents, “has been an increase in substance misuse resulting in so many innocent children without a responsible parent or safe place to live. Grants like these enable us to support the heroic efforts to keep children with a relative or loved one.”

There are over 12,000 grandparents raising grandchildren in New Hampshire. This number does not include the many aunts, uncles, siblings and other “kin” who have also stepped up for these children.