Saratoga News

Senior Notes

Grandparents invited to learn more about parenting grandchildren

The standing joke in the grandparent set used to be that the best thing about being a grandparent was that you could spoil your grandchildren and then give them back to their parents. These days, a growing number of grandparents are finding themselves in the position of both grandparent and parent to their grandchildren.

Frequently when grandparents must take on the parenting role, their relationship with their own children becomes strained, often hostile.

In Santa Clara County, Catholic Charities stepped in and began running support groups for grandparents to come together and share their resources and their frustrations. From that base has sprung the Grandparent Caregiver Resource Center, which presents "Understanding Your Legal Options and What the Law Says," an informational seminar for kinship caregivers. Topics include grandparent visitation rights, guardianships, foster care, adoptions, types of custody and how to obtain legal custody.

The program is set for Friday, April 24, from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Grandparent Caregiver Resource Center, 2425 Zanker Road, Suite 200, San Jose. For information and cost, call 468-0100, ext. 165 or 123.

In the Los Gatos and Saratoga area, an ongoing grandparent support group meets at the Saratoga Senior Center, 19655 Allendale Ave., Saratoga. Call the senior center at 868-1200 for more information about the support group.

San Jose offers job opportunities

Seniors in search of employment might do well to check out the 14th annual Intergenerational Job Faire planned for April 8 from 2 to 7 p.m. in Parkside Hall at the San Jose Civic Auditorium.

Sponsored jointly by the San Jose departments of parks and recreation and neighborhood services, the job faire is for youth 14-24 and for those over 50.

The faire will feature employers from the greater San Jose area. For more information, call the San Jose Office on Aging at 277-4101.

Organizing paperwork is program's topic

Information and Referral Services Inc. offers a program on organizing the paperwork of family members through its Caregivers Support Group. The session is set for Tuesday, April 14, from 6 to 8 p.m. in I&R's second-floor conference room at 1245 S. Winchester Blvd.

Suggested donation is $5. For more information, call 345-4532.

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