New Community Corporation

Family Service Bureau of Newark

Mentorship Program
As an affiliate of NCC, the Mission of FSB is to preserve, support, strengthen and enrich family life through prevention, intervention and community education programs. that assist families, children and individuals to realize their full potential.
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The Trials of Kinship Care
Barbara Waiters is raising ten grandchildren, ranging in age from one to nineteen. While the older children pitch in to help, the task is not easy.
“I just felt it was my place to take them all,” Ms. Waiters said when asked about her motivation for taking in all the children. “They’re brothers and sisters,” she continued. “I just wanted to keep them together. It felt like it was the natural thing to do.”

The seven youngest children belong to her youngest daughter, who is 31. The oldest three belong to her 37-year-old daughter. She said neither is in a position to care for the children, which is why she stepped in.

“It’s just one big family that blended all together,” she explained.
When caring for minor family members in the home, one can be faced with many challenges. Often, biological parents drift in and out of the children’s lives, creating feelings of abandonment and lack of trust. Furthermore, conflicts around discipline can sometimes arise as rules and expectations differ between the caregiver and biological parent.

The Family Service Bureau of Newark, an NCC affiliate, stands ready to lend a helping hand to families struggling with such issues through its Kinship Care program. Funded by DYFS, the program provides supportive services to families in Newark caring for another relative.
Despite all the challenges kinship care can present, Waiters and her family somehow seem to be making it work. Still, things have often been touch and go as she strives to maintain a home for nine of her ten grandchildren. The oldest, William Waiters, 19, a former honor student, is currently incarcerated, she explains, noting he became mixed up with the “wrong crowd.”

“Sometimes, I can’t believe how I am balancing everything,” said Waiters, 60.

Kinship care stipends from DYFS barely cover her $1,400 rent and monthly $300 utility bills. Now her landlord is planning to sell the three family house in the city’s Vailsburg section where her family occupies the two upper floors. Finding a place--she now has seven bedrooms---that can accommodate eleven people will be difficult. Rents are high and Waiters does not have a Section-8 voucher that would reduce her rental payments. And with ten children, where do you even find time to look?
Just performing day to day tasks can sometimes seem overwhelming. The endless loads of laundry, piles of dishes and constant cooking can easily occupy most of the day. Food shopping without a car is hard enough, but by the middle of the month, food stamps run out. Growing children can eat a great deal.

But you’ll rarely see Ms. Waiters without a smile on her face, and the children are always considerate and friendly, with the older ones looking out for the youngsters. They are a family filled with love and respect. All those that meet them become immediately attached. Even employees who no longer work for the Family Service Bureau still go out of their way to help them, said the family’s clinical case manager, FSB’s Judith Nerbetski. “She is someone I truly admire for the work that she does and the way those children behave. I am amazed she is able to keep a clean house with that many kids. She really inspires me,” Nerbetski said.

Being a part of the Kinship Care program has afforded Waiters a range of support services ranging from help navigating the social service system to kinship support groups and therapeutic counseling. There are also emergency services offered to kinship families in crisis and social activities to help relieve stress, including the annual trip to Dorney Park and the annual holiday party, complete with a visit from Santa.

“It’s been difficult at times but I go to meetings and find out information about resources that could help us,” Waiters said.

She has also received emergency food and clothing assistance through the Family Service Bureau, NCC’s food pantry and personal donations from agency members and their families. FSB has also been there to offer emotional support when times become trying.
Through it all, the family remains remarkably well adjusted.

“We have our trials, but we all work together,” Waiters said. “All of the children have beautiful personalities and we just try to have a nice, pleasant day.”

Our Mission ~ To help residents of inner cities improve the quality of their lives to reflect individual God-given dignity and personal achievement.