Grandparents Raising Grandkids

Grandparents As Parents: A Workshop Model

Introduction | Teaching Points 1–3 | Teaching Points 4–6 | Teaching Points 7–9

Teaching Points:

  1. Grandparents raising grandchildren come from all types of economic, racial and ethnic groups.
  2. There are a variety of circumstances that prompted the grandparents to assume the parenting role.
  3. Grandparents parenting again have a variety of family structures

1. Grandparents raising grandchildren come from all types of economic, racial, and ethnic groups.

Approximately six million grandparents live in the same household as a child under the age of 18. Forty-three percent of these grandparents have sole parenting responsibilities within said household. While multi-generational households are nothing new to the working class Black and Hispanic communities, what is new about the current phenomenon is that it now cuts across all race and class lines. Yes, it is more prevalent in the urban centers of our nation, but suburbs and rural communities are beginning to experience this grandparent phenomenon more and more.

Jason Fields, a researcher for the U.S. Bureau of Census, reports that Black children were more likely to live in grandparent-headed households than either White or Hispanic children, 09% of all Black children and 04% and 06% for White and Hispanic children, respectively.

Sixty-nine percent of Black children were also found to be more likely to live in grandparent-headed households with only the grandparent present, compared with 40% of White grandchildren and 48% of Hispanic grandchildren.

The Census Bureau report titled “Children’s Living Arrangements and Characteristics: March 2002,” P20–547, provided some interesting facts:

  • Between 1970 and 2002, the proportion of children living with two parents (biological, step, or adoptive) declined from 85 to 68 percent.
  • Children are considerably more likely to be living with only one parent than in 1970. In 2002, 22 percent of children under 18 lived with one parent, up from 12 percent in 1970. The majority (83 percent) of these children lived with their mothers, but an increasing proportion lived with their fathers (9 percent in 1970 versus 17 percent in 2002).
  • Children living in a grandparent’s household without a parent present were twice as likely to be in families that were below the poverty level than children living with both grandparents and a parent.
  • Children were at the greatest risk of not being covered by health insurance when they resided in their grandparent’s household without a parent present.

Click here for a graphical representation of this information.

2. There are a variety of circumstances that prompted the grandparents to assume the parenting role.

If you talked to five grandparents about how they became involved in parenting their grandchildren you would probably find that each situation is different.

Best Explanation for Grandparent Household Status

In a Houston study, 23 principals were asked to give their perceptions of why children were being cared for by grandparents. The principals ranked the explanations provided from an earlier focus group in order of importance.

  • Economic
  • Drugs
  • Bad Environment
  • Incarceration
  • Teen Parent
  • Divorce or Abandonment

The principals felt that economic factors were the most important explanation for grandparent-parenting status. Drug addiction on the part of parents and a desire on the part of the grandparent to provide a better environment for the child were cited as the second and third best explanations for the grandparent-household living arrangement of the children in the sample. The principals felt that incarceration of parents and teen-parent status were important explanations although not as important as the aforementioned explanations.

3. Grandparents parenting again have a variety of family structures.

There are various types of grandparent family structures. The research team found that there were so many different grandparent-headed-household living arrangements among the children enrolled in the sample schools that they were difficult to categorize. Each time the various living arrangements were categorized, a new one was discovered. To solve this problem, a decision was made to limit the study to three categories with encompassed the vast majority of the children. Those three categories are:

  • Grandparent-Household Children: children who live with their grandparent(s) on a regular basis with no parent present.
  • Grandparent-Parent Children: children who live with a parent or parents who themselves live with their parents (the children’s grandparents) and rely totally upon the grandparent for livelihood.
  • Shuttle-Household Children: children who shuttle between the household of their parents, grandparents, and relatives, living in one place one day and another the next.

An example of a popular household arrangement not included in the study is one in which the parent, usually a mother, though assuming responsibility for the children, nonetheless leaves them with the grandparent during weekdays. The grandparents, in turn, are responsible for getting the children to and from school. This living arrangement works well for single parents whose work prevents them from being home when the children get out of school. The team did not include this household arrangement because, although the grandparents’ household served as the primary residence of the children during weekdays, the parent(s) assumed the primary parenting responsibilities.

This point is important because it means that the magnitude of the grandparent-household-living arrangements as suggested in this report is extremely conservative and probably understated.

Ask participants to share in groups of 3–4 any examples they know of grandparents raising grandchildren.

Introduction | Teaching Points 1–3 | Teaching Points 4–6 | Teaching Points 7–9

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Written by (August 1997): Dr. Carris Booker, Assistant Professor and Extension 4-H & Youth Development Specialist; Dr. Dorothy E. James, Assistant Professor and Extension Family Life Specialist; Dr. Judith L. Warren, Professor and Extension Gerontology Specialist. Updated by Andrew B. Crocker, Gerontology Health Specialist, November 2003.

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Last updated: 26 July, 2010

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