Nova Southeastern University's Law Center to Host Children First Press Conference Wednesday, September 6, At 11 a.m.; Senator Dawson Expected to Attend.

News & City Editors/Legal, Assignment, Education & Health Writers

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 2000

Florida senator M. Mandy Dawson (D-Fort Lauderdale, District 30), local political advocate of the Florida Legislature's Relative Caregiver Program, is expected to be among a crowd of 40 grandparents and supporters, as Nova Southeastern University's Shepard Broad Law Center hosts the Children First Project press conference next Wednesday, September 6, at 11 a.m.

The gathering -- to be held in the center's Faculty Terrace just four days before the national recognition of Grandparent's Day (Sunday, September 10) -- will help gear up for the next legislative session by creating awareness of NSU's project and recommendations. The Children First Project at Nova Southeastern University's Law Center brings to light the struggles of relatives -- especially grandparents -- raising children without parents. Most of these relatives are low-income and struggle at the margins of survival in order to successfully raise another generation of children to adulthood.

Led by the efforts of Children First Project legal director Christina Zawisza and policy director John Ratliff, both professors at Nova Southeastern University's Law Center, the Children First Project at NSU's Shepard Broad Law Center was instrumental in the passage of the Relative Caregiver Program's legislation and in the subsequent implementation efforts. They will announce the release of a series of reports describing the experiences of relative caregivers and recommend needed policy directions. At least 8,000 Florida relatives receive Relative Caregiver Program financial assistance because they are raising children who otherwise would end up in government foster care. An unknown number of relatives are raising kin children without the benefit of the Relative Caregiver Program.

Besides Dawson, speakers will include Peggy Demon, chief of staff to congresswoman Carrie Meek (D-Miami); Louisa Williams, a grandmother from Miami-Dade County raising a child; and Brent Elrod of Family Resources, Inc., which provides professional social work services to grandparent support groups in St. Petersburg. Refreshments will be served. To RSVP for the press conference, phone Mike Laderman, Nova Southeastern University's associate director of public affairs, at [phone]. For information on NSU's Children First Project, phone Zawisza at [phone] or Ratliff at [phone].