Grandmas Place

Grandma's Place is an emergency shelter for sixteen children, from birth to age 12, who have been removed from their homes by the Department of Children & Families due to abuse, neglect or abandonment. Grandma's Place operates 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year with around the clock awake staff. All children, including sibling groups and children with disabilities, are welcomed. For the fiscal year ended June 30, 2023 we provided a safe haven to 35 children in the foster care system. Many of thse children come to us often in the middle of the night, frightened and sometimes with only the clothes on their backs. Sadly, the majority of Palm Beach County abuse victims are younger than age six. They are welcomed, fed, bathed, introduced to other residents, given clothing and other basic necessities and shown the house, including their room. Every effort is made to make each child feel safe and comfortable. Of these children, one stayed 11 months, two stayed 8 months, two were here for 6 months, one for 5 months, three for 3 months, two for 2 months and one for 1 month, with a total of twelve children staying with us while a permanent home is found - either returned to their parents, placed with relatives, foster home or group home. All children are given a medical evaluation within 72 hours of intake by a local pediatrician and are provided with treatment, if needed. Appropriate dental and eye care as well as immunizations for school admission are also provided. In October of 2017, through a generous grant from the Palm Beach County Youth Services Department, we started a Family Support Program to provide much needed services to parents/caregivers of children with special needs. These services include an Outreach Program to educate the community on the benefits of respite care and serves as a resource center for other available services and activities in the community. Parent training is another part, in which we host monthly training sessions on Zoom from area professionals including everything from behavior to potty training. The ABLE program is a big part of this program which focuses on education, social skills and self confidence. FREE respite care is provided whenever it is needed including on weekends, evenings, overnight and on an emergency basis. We had 79 chilren attending on a monthly basis. The program provided 5,266 hours of desperately-needed respite care last year.