Although they are new to the job of foster grandparenting, retired couple Alberta and Bill Miller of North Topeka have quite a history of preparation. They have raised 12 children and now have 26 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

For 20 hours a week, the Millers occupy the 'Grandma and Grandpa' corner of the ground floor lobby of the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services Topeka State Area Office. 'Grandma Bert' and 'Grandpa Bill' read, talk and play with children of SRS clients. The Foster Grandparent Program, part of the federal Corporation for National Community Service, helps both the children and their parent or parents deal with the commotion and hectic pace of a busy, often emotion-filled office visit.

Bringing in foster grandparents as volunteers to help children in the lobby is just one of many changes initiated by SRS staff to improve conditions for clients and staff. Also added in recent months are a Job Resource Center for clients searching for work and a medical screenings office for children in the prevention-focused Kan Be Healthy program.

An SRS KanWork client, Brian Devader of Rossville, expressed appreciation recently that the foster grandparents were there when he visited the area office. The Millers played with 19-month-old Nathan while Devader went through the agency's Job Club employment training program.

Devader's case is unusual and heartbreaking.

He suddenly became a single father and a public assistance recipient after his fiancee was killed and Nathan was badly injured in a car wreck several months ago. Devader's father also died of a heart attack the same day of the accident as he was preparing to take Brian to see his son in the hospital. It was the huge medical bills from Nathan's hospital stay that forced Devader, who was a college student at the time of the accident, to seek help from SRS.

My son just loved them," Devader said of the foster grandparents.

Usually he'd be crawling around on people's desks while we're trying to talk. It was nice to let him stay with them."

The Millers relish the opportunity to help. They have at their disposal a cupboard full of books, donated by various Topeka businesses and organizations.

When they go in to meet their caseworker, they can leave their children here," Bill Miller said.

But we're not babysitters," Alberta Miller quickly adds. We can read and talk to them; sometimes they're tickled. If you talk to kids, they show you everything they can do."

The Millers said adjusting to an office occupied by people who often are down on their luck took some adjustment.

"I see people who really look like they need help...people dealing with a lot of life issues or grieving over loosing a job," Mrs. Miller said. But most of the kids are well taken care of and really loving."

At the Job Resource Center, SRS clients use materials donated by the community to look for work. Included is a television showing job openings, a personal computer to update resumes, and newspaper want ads placed there daily by SRS employees.

KanWork client Tamara Jackson visited the center recently with others in her Job Club. Jackson, 34, has three children and has been on public assistance for a year and nine months. She is looking for a job as a medical secretary after working for 11 years as a Certified Medical Aid. She said a nervous breakdown forced her from the labor market, but she now is ready to return.

"I use the want ads, the job hotline and the TV channel with jobs," Jackson said about the Job Resource Center. She said, the time spent in the center helps her to feel comfortable with the job search process. People on assistance come here to ask questions about job openings," she said.

In a room behind the Job Resource Center, a nurse from the Shawnee County Health Department provides Kan Be Healthy medical screenings to children with a medical card. The health department and SRS worked out an agreement to do the sceenings at the office in order to increase access to the prevention-focused program.

In mid-February, Elaine Drennon brought her son Richard, 19 months, for a Kan Be Healthy Screening with Shawnee County Health Department nurse Angie Hausheer. Another son, Jonathan, 4, accompanied them.

Although this screening, which included a lead test and immunization, was routine, Mrs. Drennon said in the past the Kan Be Healthy screenings had helped her discover her twins, Jonathan and Crystal, were developmentally delayed.

My husband and I would not have known what was wrong," she said. "I found out through Kan Be Healthy, and they helped me get into the programs to help."

Page Last Updated: May 29, 2001