Grandparents Raising Children Support Group

This community is dedicated to grandparents who are the primary caregivers of their grandchildren. In cases where the parents are not willing or able to provide adequate care for their children, grandparents may take on the role of primary caregivers. Join the support group to find support, share your experience, and get advice from other members.

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grammy22 08/13/2014

Last night I wentcto a support meeting. It was canceled at the last minute but another couple and I were there. The other woman gave me a print out from Food Research and Action Center. FRAC. The list of categorical eligibility for free school meals says:

children that meet the following determination have automatic eligibility for free school lunch.

FOSTER CHILDREN - any foster child whose care and placement is the responsibility of the state or WHO WAS PLACED BT COURT IN A CARETAKER HOUSEHOLD.

It goes on to list other children who get free lunch regardless of income. It says previously you had to use the child's income on an application. Today I will call the school district to find out if they are going to give the girls free lunch or if I need to fight them on it.

8legs 08/13/2014

WOW I belive it was God's plan for you to meet that couple. Just another way he will carry us on our journey.

grammy22 08/13/2014

OK, I just called the school. YES any of us that have legal guardianship through the court get free lunches for the kids. You also get it if you have your grandkids as foster children through your state. It is NOT based on income, you just need to check the box that says foster child/court order. If you have the children through an informal agreement with the bios you can apply based on your household income. This is a federally funded free or reduced lunch program it applies to all states to all school that have federally funded lunch programs.

cjfern 08/13/2014

Thanks for info. Just filled out the paperwork and was wondering. We have had a TANF number in the past, but with bios actually(sometimes) paying child support thru the state TANF case is closed. I was going to put $0 income for the girls as they have none and we are guardians and our income does not count, except if we applied for food stamps- SNAP then it counts. . Bureaucracy is crazy!

deleted_user 08/13/2014

With my income I will most likely qualify anyway, but this is definitely good information to have. Thanks for sharing!

grammy22 08/14/2014

I filled out the application on line today while on the phone with the person that handles the applications for our district. You check off foster child and you check off no income. That is it. Sign it and you are done. You may or may not need to provide your court papers.

I spoke with the lady that takes the applications, she first heard about the grandparents with guardianship getting the free lunches two years ago when a grandparent told her about it. She says she called and verified the information and yes all grandparents with guardianship get free lunches for the grandchildren without listing income.

grammy22 08/14/2014

Hmmm my school might be wrong on this. It is the Healthy hunger-free act of 2010. It says the court has to retain legal custody of the child. So maybe we all do not qualify, maybe my school is wrong.

kslady43 08/14/2014

I know we get free lunches for our GD whom we have legal guardianship of through the court.

It is because we get a monetary support from the State. It is the TNAF. We get that since we do not receive any child support for her even though it is court ordered from both parents.

So unless something changes, she should get free lunches all the way through school. At $2.30/ $2.60 per lunch for the students K -12 here that will save us a pretty penny over time.

daisydduck 08/15/2014

Illinois has helped grandparents with this program for some time. The children are usually considered "homeless" as your address is not their permanent address. I also believe there are other benefits like breakfast if you have to work early and after school care. You just can't assume the school or a social worker will automatically tell you about programs that might help you.

scgramma 08/19/2014

I have custody of 2, grands automatically qualify for tanf since no child support, tanf makes them eligible for free school lunch and Medicaid , wic when younger

deleted_user 08/20/2014

You shouldn't need to fight on it. I just registered my Grandson for kindergarten (sniff sniff) and he will be getting free lunch. This will be a major help for me. Just call the school.

deleted_user 08/20/2014

As a single grandmother raising her grandson, (they call it permanent custody here in NH) I received from the state what they call FAP per month for relative raising a relative. It isn't TANF. Does anyone else have something like that in their state? I have had Caleb for 5 years home from the hospital and it wasn't until he was a year old and I ran into a foster parent who told me about it. She said the state doesn't like to tell you about it and to go up and ask. So I did and I got it.

grammy22 08/20/2014

I received my paper today granting us the free lunches. I also had an email from the Commission on Grandparents says they verified it a year ago and itxshould be somewhere on their site.

GMaWilli 08/22/2014

The principal sent me an email saying both boys get free lunches this year. They are cousins....oldest adopted, youngest guardianship. I also get TANF for youngest, which I think was the deciding factor for us. Saving me some money for sure!! Grateful.....

joesuzzi 09/04/2014

I too am grateful for the information I got here. Because of info Grammy22 shared, my GS now also gets free lunches. The school even went back a year and refunded all the money I had paid in for his lunches.
We all know how every penny counts....so THANK YOU !!
(I was directed to fill the paperwork out as "Homeless" which seemed strange to me too !)

grammy22 09/04/2014

It is nice to know that some school system are helping us out.

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