Our History

Grands As Parents, Inc. (G.A.P’S) was founded in 1996 to support and advocate for the rights of
grandparents and relative caregivers. This nonprofit organization is administrated by volunteers
and has a board of directors. G.A. P’s willingly collaborates with other nonprofit community
organizations in the concept of, “It takes a village to raise a child”, and operates out of North
Central Philadelphia, the focus of the G.A. P’s initiative, in the historical Church of the
Advocate, located at 1801 West Diamond Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121.

Relative caregivers are a growing segment of this and other Philadelphia communities.
Over 50% of households are headed by single parents thus the need for grandparents is very
important to help young people be all that they can be. G.A. P’s is comprised of grandmothers,
grandfathers, and relative caregivers who have found themselves in parenting roles for their
grandchildren (in some cases even their great-grandchildren). These grandparents and relative
caregivers have been forced from the realm of retirement to become sole caretakers for these
energetic and needy children due to the absences of parents, substance abuse of parents, the
incarceration of parents, death of parents, etc.

G.A.P’S provides support services and advocates for the rights of the heads of such families and
is committed to providing assistance to the grandparents, relative caregivers, and the entire
households for which they are responsible. G.A. P’s is designed to address the issues and special
needs of the caretakers who are temporary or permanent custodians of their grandchildren and
assist in the cultivation of children to grow fruitfully into adulthood.