The Prince George branch of the Parent Support Services Society of BC (PSS) celebrated Grandparents’ Day at Paddlewheel Park on Sunday. 
The day is meant to celebrate grandparents but PSS takes it a step further by using it as a platform to promote and celebrate those grandparents who are full-time caregivers for their grandchildren.
The 2016 Census shows about 13,000 kinship care families in B.C. which is more than foster care families in the province. Jessica Turner, PSS’s Prince George Program Coordinator the top reasons for parents no longer being able to care for their own children are: death, mental health issues, substance misuse, incarceration, abandonment, child abuse or neglect, and violence in the home.
“People may be unaware of the numbers of grandparents and other relatives who step up to the plate when parents are unable.” says Turner.
Among the attendees at the event was Prince George – Valemount MLA Shirley Bond and Prince George local, Gerry Hendrick. Hendrick is one of many grandparents to raise her grandchildren and says it was anything but easy.
“Most of my friends walked away from me because they couldn’t understand why I was taking [my] grandchildren in.” Hendrick explains. “But as I told my husband, they weren’t good friends anyhow if they walk away on that kind of a circumstance.”
This is the second year PSS has put on an event Prince George. Nanaimo and Victoria have also held an event the past two years; New Westminster has been holding this event for three years.
. @PSS_BC & @shirleybond here at Paddlewheel Park celebrating &a supporting grandparents who raise their grandchildren #CityOfPG pic.twitter.com/iN8kG5EQS4
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) September 10, 2017
PSS is available on Facebook by clicking here. There is also a provincial phone line you can call at 1-877-345-9777.