Grandparents raising Grandkids face unique challenges

Older relatives often are the glue that holds families together. This is truer in Ohio than nationwide. According to a 2005 U.S. census estimate, 88,000 Ohio grandparents are the primary caregivers to their grandchildren - accounting for an estimated 10 percent of all households with children. The national average is six percent.
 
The average age of a grandparent raising a grandchild is 55, though nearly one in six is 65 or older. Half of these grandparents provide care for more than one grandchild. More than half of the children cared for by grandparents are age six or younger.
 
Experts agree that kinship care represents the most desirable out-of-home placement option for children who cannot live with their parents. It reduces the pain of not being able to live with their parents, while allowing children to maintain their sense of belonging. Being cared for by a grandparent helps to preserve the family and enhance children’s ability to identify with their family’s culture and traditions, while being a very rewarding and bonding experience for grandparents.
 
However, grandparents can face formidable challenges. In addition to the ongoing stress and responsibility of raising young children, these grandparents must cope with modest retirement incomes and lack of access to public assistance. A report to the Ohio General Assembly found that while grandparents express some concern about their own health and finances, the overwhelming majority are far more concerned with the health and overall well-being of their grandchildren.
 
Assistance, both financially and supportive, for kinship caregivers does exist.
 
Kinship Navigator Programs are state initiatives that help caregivers find their way through state and local support systems. They provide information, referral and follow-up services to grandparents raising children to link them to the benefits and services that they or the children need, such as low-cost child care, respite care, training related to caring for special needs children and legal services.
 
For more information about the Kinship Navigator Program, contact your County Department of Job and Family Services. 
 
More than half (51 percent) of Ohio grandparents live in households with incomes less than $30,000. The Kinship Permanency Incentive Program, implemented Jan. 1, 2006, provides financial support for minor children in the custody of grandparents or other kinship caregivers. To qualify, the family’s gross income may not exceed 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines (currently $2,933 a month for a family of three). Families who have had custody or guardianships since July 1, 2005 receive an initial payment of $1,000 per child, followed by a maximum of five $500 payments per child over three years.
 
For more information, contact your local public children services agency or call 1-866-886-3537.
 
Grandparents are vital resources for children, allowing them to live in familiar surroundings with people they love. Helping these grandparents by lessening their financial hardship and emotional stress makes sense, both morally and financially.