Foster grandma scores with teens at Turning Point

By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News

When Volunteers of America asked for someone to work with teenage girls, the volunteer pool was suddenly quiet. Only for a moment, though. Carmen Jones of Fort Collins piped up and said she would love to spend time with them.

"I like teenagers," she said in a recent interview. "They have such high energy, and they're so free-spirited."

Jones, 65, has been part of the Foster Grandparent program for three years now. She was assigned to the girls' residence at Turning Point, a residential treatment center in Fort Collins where the clients all call her "Grandma" or "Grandma Carmen." Turning Point is a home for high-risk teens with emotional, behavioral or addiction problems, and since the teens can't be with their families, having a foster grandmother makes the place seem more like home.

Her assignment is one that demands a lot of energy, but Jones is more than up to the task. After her husband died at an early age, she worked as the president of a mining company, the owner of an art gallery and as a professional cook. Now, in her spare time, she is writing a children's book under the pen name of Sea Jay Jones.

Jones takes her role at Turning Point seriously. The girls at the center, she said, "are right at the doorway to being adults. They have to learn to make the right choices now, because the consequences are much greater when they're adults." She sees the girls when they arrive and when they leave, and the change in them is "incredible," she said.

Amanda Brown, 17, can vouch for that. She finished the program in December, after spending a year at Turning Point. She arrived with a four-drug habit and low self-esteem, but recently celebrated a year of being clean. "I now have different beliefs about who I am," she said. Rather than being everyone's doormat, she now feels she is worth a better life. She received her GED while at Turning Point and is already taking college classes.

The Foster Grandparent program is not a new thing. It was formed about 30 years ago by VOA as a win-win program for seniors and youth. The seniors must be 60 or older and meet low-income guidelines. They are paid a very minimal stipend, $2.65 per hour, for 20 to 25 hours per week. The advantage to seniors is that the stipend does not count against other benefits they may receive. Larimer County is one of only seven in the state to have such a program.

Foster grandparents work with all ages of children, from newborn to age 21. Settings range from Head Start classrooms to public schools to youth correctional facilities. "Their job is to be positive role models for the kids," said Linda Haley, project manager for the grandparent program.

More tangible jobs include tutoring for older children and reading to younger ones. "Most of the work is education-oriented," Haley said.

In Jones' case, Turning Point has given her a good deal of responsibility. She teaches a weekly cultural heritage class which covers history, traditions and art forms of different nationalities, stressing the ethnic backgrounds that the girls come from. The class includes crafts and the history of different holidays. As part of the class, she organizes a cultural heritage evening every two months, which includes an ethnic dinner and information about a holiday or ethnic group.

But Jones' jobs extend much beyond the cultural heritage class. She heads up a "manners" program once each year, stressing social manners, etiquette and how to set a table properly. The program culminates in a formal dinner. The teens dress to the nines and the staff waits on them, giving a welcome break to the girls who usually help with all chores.

A poetry program at Turning Point is also one of Jones' projects. Girls can read their poetry during the cultural heritage class, and during the summer months they have poetry readings under a tree in the back yard, made into a "park" with wind chimes and butterflies.

Jones also helps with practical things like getting needed clothing for the residents, talking to them about hygiene, helping them learn to cook and welcoming new residents to Turning Point. "When the girls arrive here I always sit down with them and let them know how I can be of help to them," Jones said. "I try to make them feel comfortable and lessen the stress of being here. I let them know that they may talk to me about anything and I will not be shocked or upset by what they tell me."

Jones likes her foster grandmother job so much that she regularly puts in extra hours at Turning Point. "I act like a real grandma with these girls," she said. "Sometimes they get annoyed with me, just like my own grandchildren do!"

Most of the time, however, she's a welcome addition to the family. "The girls hug me all the time," said Jones. "They know I care."