Beloved foster grandparent program could see federal ax

At North Valley Head Start, Carol Ott – Grandma Carol, as she’s familiarly known – spreads care and love daily among students and teachers. She fulfills a support role, there to boost children’s spirits if they’re having a hard day or just need a hug.

Ott is part of the Foster Grandparent Program, which offers people age 55 and older the opportunity to mentor and tutor children. For her work, she gets a stipend of $2.68 per hour.

Head Start isn’t just about preschool support, but about a whole community network, and having Grandma Carol completes the multi-generational school family, site supervisor Lucy Beltz noted.

Beltz is a graduate student in Early Childhood Education Leadership at the University of Montana. As the supervisor for Head Start, she sees firsthand the importance of foster grandparents.

Because of the program, retirees are able to devote their care and knowledge to many generations of children. North Valley Head Start alone has over 80 kids, and the Valley’s foster grandparents are spread across five counties. In addition to Grandma Carol in Columbia Falls, there are two grandparents at the elementary schools in Kalispell, a grandparent at Kalispell Head Start, and one grandparent in Whitefish at the Sparrow’s Nest.

Ott is 67, with a son and two teenage grandchildren of her own in Kalispell. After retiring from North Valley Hospital, she joined the Foster Grandparent Program two years ago.

Ott was raised in Columbia Falls, and first moved here in the late 1940s. She graduated from Columbia Falls High School and attended Flathead Valley Community College, so she’s a strong part of the local network.

When she’s not with “her kids” at Head Start, she’s involved with the Moose Lodge in Whitefish, the American Legion, and the Eagles. She also takes care of her mother, who lives with her.

At Head Start, Ott works with 3-to 5-year-olds.

“I get to do one-on-one crafts with them. I read stories to them. We learn their colors and their shapes. I comfort them when they have a meltdown,” she said.

She also helps teachers prepare their activities, acting as a classroom aide.

It’s rewarding work.

“The kids just love you. You see them in stores and they just come running. It’s very gratifying,” Ott noted. “If you’re not in class they worry about you. The first thing they do when you come in every morning is give you a hug and say they love you.”

And it works both ways.

“I definitely love my kids,” she added.

But, the Foster Grandparents Program and Head Start may both lose federal funding under the Trump administration’s budget plan, which cuts funds for Family and Human Services.

Ott noted that the staff at Head Start has already been campaigning and writing letters, and got support from the tribal council in Pablo.

Beltz and Ott encourage the community to tell their senators and congressmen how important these programs are.

“Let them know Montana needs this,” Ott said. “It keeps us off the street. If they had to pay for (the elderly’s) care and housing, it’d be millions more than the small stipend we get. And the kids need this. It’s a stepping stone to kindergarten. The teachers are so overworked already, the families need the help.”