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.