(WENY) – Children being displaced from homes is a concern in our community and across the world as well. A group of grandparents in Pennsylvania started a support group called "Grand Savers are Life Savers." Dozens of grandchildren and grandparents meet at Williamson High School in Tioga, Pennsylvania once a month for support sessions and a dinner. All of the grandparents apart of the group are raising their grandchildren.

The group started five years ago after one grandparent lost her daughter to a drug overdose. That's when 9 sets of grandparents came together and supported one another. Now, there are more than 2 dozen families a part of "Grand Savers are Life Savers."

State Representative, Clint Owlett says “in the state of Pennsylvania, in 2017, there were nearly 90,000 Pennsylvania grandparents that were responsible for the basic needs of one or more of their grandchildren under the age of 18.”

Carmen McCombs, president of Grand Savers are Life Savers says “I know that I'm not the only one going through this. I see it with other people. So I know I'm not alone and there's people you can call and talk to in the same situation to kind of help pull you from this.”

Theresa and Rany Swain are a couple from Tioga, Pennyslvania. They too are also raising their grandchild and are co-founders of the support group. WENY News recently sat down with the couple to learn about struggles they are facing. They took us back to the day their lives changed forever, 16 years ago. Theresa Swain says they were at a pool party when they noticed their grandson get out of the pool with “two perfect hand prints on his heiney.” Their grandson, Chris, was three at the time. Chris was removed from his mother, and placed with the Swains. The couple went to court and began raising him as their own. Going back to the child's father wasn't an option, either, since he was incarcerated.

The Swains raised Chris for 5 years before coming across an eye opening discovery. They discovered he had autism. Randy Swain talked about the challenges they faced raising their grandson. He says, “the anger, the banging his head into the floor, just throwing things and just very violent, we just thought it came from his father.”

The Swains also were faced with the financial burden of raising a special needs child. They say they were told, the only way they could get funding to help care for him is if Chris became homeless first. Although they didn't want to, they placed Chris in a homeless center for more than 40 days.

When it comes to financial support, foster parents get help, but grandparents are often on their own. Clint Owlett believes the state of Pennsylvania can do more to help with the financial burden these grandparents are dealing with. He says “there's some things that we need to look at there to be able to best serve these kids and help these grandparents who have stepped up to the plate.”

Karen Fitzpatrick with Chemung County Children and Family Services says when children are taken from their homes, it is beneficial to keep them connected to their family in some way. She goes onto say “it's very traumatic for children to have to be placed in foster care, so as an agency, we try very hard to place children with people that they are familiar with.”

"Grand Savers are Life Savers" won an award "Resource Family Association of the year" last October.

if you know of a child who is in danger, speak up and take action, and just remember you are not alone. For more information, call (507) 244-6060, or (570) 250-9142, or (570) 404-1209.