Spring has sprung! This time of year is perfect for new beginnings, so it's fitting that Step Up Parents is beginning its new venture in Southern Maine. We are excited to answer the call of Maine kinship families, starting with York County.

With our proven track record in identifying and addressing the underserved needs of kinship caregivers in New Hampshire, we are ready to expand our mission into Maine. As always, we will continue to be a critical and reliable resource for kinship families in New Hampshire.

Meet Jocelyn and her sweet 1-year-old grandson, who suffers from health challenges. Jocelyn became a kinship caregiver to him due to her daughter's (his mother's) struggle with substance use disorder. She has had to miss a lot of work to care for her grandson, and money is tight. Step Up Parents was happy to help her pay for a car seat, air purifiers, and diapers.

Our number one priority is to continue expanding our outreach to kinship families. In 2023 we are focusing on the Upper Valley, an area along the Connecticut River bordering New Hampshire and Vermont. We are excited to have made meaningful new connections with Upper Valley organizations like Waypoint, the Public Health Council, West Central Behavioral Health, and other organizations that service kinship families. Together we can help deserving families in need.

We are proud to have assisted families in all ten counties of New Hampshire and continue to dedicate ourselves to reaching families from the smallest towns to the largest cities.

Keith and Edie Lowhorne had planned well for their retirement. “I had worked 43 years in broadcast journalism,” Keith Lowhorne says. “We had saved.” Then, everything changed with a phone call. Today the Lowhornes are raising two grandchildren, ages 9 and 6. That trip to Europe? Never happened.

US census data shows that 7.1 million American grandparents are living with their grandchildren under 18. Some 2.3 million of those grandparents are responsible for their grandchildren. About a third of grandchildren living with grandparents who are responsible for them are younger than 6.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told AARP that America’s opioid problem greatly increased the pressure on grandparents to take over responsibility for children. “I first got interested in this issue when I started seeing so many grandparents in Maine who were raising very young children. In almost every case, the parent of the child had a crisis with drug addiction or had been incarcerated.” 

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Our donors make our work possible. We are grateful for our wonderful relationships with each of our individual donors — many of whom have supported us from the beginning, making Step Up Parents a reality — and our corporate sponsors. As our organization has grown to meet demand, we are grateful to our grant funders who have helped us to expand our capacity to serve kinship families and build our reputation in the nonprofit world. With so many worthy charities, we always feel blessed for every dollar a funder chooses to give to us.

Special thanks to four of our 2023 donors, Kennebunk Savings Bank, Bangor Savings Bank Foundation, Rotary Club of Rochester, NH and the Greater Lakes Region Children’s Auction. We are forever grateful on behalf of our organization and our families.