There’s nothing new about grandparents helping to raise and care for their grandchildren. In the past, several generations would live under one roof and the grandparents filled many roles, including full-time care when needed.
What is new, however, is that the number of grandparents raising grandchildren without the parents has doubled in the last 20 years. Grandparents parenting their grandchildren crosses all socioeconomic groups, geographic areas and ethnicities. In the 80s, 2.3 million children under 18 were living in the home of a grandparent, and now the number is 4 million and growing nationally. In Michigan, 114,472 children under the age of 18 live in their grandparents’ households.
In 2000, an amendment to the Older Americans Act established the National Family Caregivers Act to provide funding for this important caregiving role – a role most people don’t understand until it impacts them personally.
As a professional in the aging network, I would often address broad issues about grandparents raising grandchildren. But the reality of what this means set in when my grandson, Zachary, moved in with Juanita, my wife, and me six years ago.
Zach had been placed in foster care. Juanita is his biological grandmother, and neither one of us could imagine Zachary growing up without his family. We also couldn’t imagine the adjustments and the joy that Zack, who is now 13, has brought us.
The reasons why this responsibility falls on the shoulders of responsible grandparents can be many. It could be because of divorce, unemployment, the physical or mental illness of the child’s parents or the parents’ drug or alcohol abuse. Sometimes it’s because of the parents’ abuse, neglect or abandonment of their children, the incarceration of the parents, the financial instability of the parents or family violence. And now, tragically, a high number of grandparents are outliving their children.
This newfound responsibility of raising grandchildren is not without difficulty and sacrifice. For some grandparents, health and stamina may be an issue. For others, new expenses bring economic difficulties, especially when living on a low, fixed income. For many, it’s both, coupled with the fear of depleting all assets.
Providing care for grandchildren with health challenges or behavioral problems can become a challenge. Similarly, the grandparent may also be challenged because of his or her health and behavioral problems. There’s also the risk of confusion as roles change.
Grandparents cannot be “grandparents” to the child who is under their care when they are parenting that child, and this may cause role confusion in the family and for the grandchild.
On the other hand, there are benefits and rewards that come with raising a grandchild. It’s a chance to raise a child differently, to nurture family relationships, continue family histories and to receive love and companionship from a grandchild. It is clear that despite the problems, most grandparents derive satisfaction from acting as parents to their grandchildren. Providing care to their grandchildren helps some grandparent caregivers to feel young, stay active and experience a greater purpose for living.
At the Detroit Area Agency on Aging (DAAA), we see the need to address the problems that grandparents raising grandchildren face. In 2001, DAAA established the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren committee to start meeting the needs of grandparent caregivers in the community. Juanita Bridgewater has been chair of the committee for the past six years and the committee has increased the membership to 15 organizations (Adult Well Being Services, Bridging Communities - Bridging Generations, Catholic Social Services of Wayne County, Child Care Coordinating Council-4C, City of Detroit Senior Citizens Department, Detroit Area Agency on Aging, Detroit Public Library, Neighborhood Services Organization, Orchard Children Services, Southeastern Village, The Family Place, Wayne County Clerk’s Office, Wayne County Department of Human Services, Wayne County Executive Office Community Outreach), presenting numerous events annually to strengthen the support group.
On Saturday, Sept. 8, the committee and the member organizations will celebrate National Grandparents Day at Cobo Conference Center.
This is not a new holiday. In 1978, President Jimmy Carter proclaimed that National Grandparents Day would be celebrated every year on the first Sunday after Labor Day. The impetus for a National Grandparents Day originated with Marian McQuade, a housewife in Fayette County, West Virginia whose primary motivation was lonely elderly in nursing homes.
The celebration at Cobo Conference Center on Saturday is for grandparents and grandchildren, and a celebration at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History on Sunday, Sept. 9, is for grandparents in general – both honoring the important role grandparents play in the lives of their grandchildren.
For more information about the DAAA Grandparents Raising Grandchildren committee or to RSVP for the Sept. 8 event, call (313) 446-4444.
Tune in to “The Senior Solution” on WGPR 107.5FM every Saturday morning at 10 am, hosted by Paul Bridgewater, president and CEO of the Detroit Area Agency on Aging.
