Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children: Providing Services for Caregivers of All Ages

Introduction

According to the U.S. Census 2000, more than six million children across the country are living in households maintained by grandparents or other relatives.1 Currently, more than 2.4 million grandparents in the U.S. have taken primary responsibility for meeting the basic needs of their grandchildren.2 Although the age range of grandparent caregivers is broad, 71% percent of these grandparents are under 60 years old.3 Factors such as parental substance abuse, incarceration, HIV/AIDS, death, poverty, and even military deployments are causing growing numbers of grandparents and other relatives to step forward to keep families together.

The National Family Caregiver Support Program (NFCSP) 4 provides the most comprehensive services to caregivers over 60 years old. Through the NFCSP, states are authorized to use up to 10% of program funds to provide supportive services to grandparents and other relatives over the age of 60 who are raising relatives’ children.5

The information presented in this fact sheet is intended to stimulate dialogue on the NFCSP and to encourage collaborative efforts in meeting the needs of all grandparent and other relative caregivers and the children in their care. This fact sheet will emphasize the need to expand the system of services to all ages of relative caregivers to address the unique challenges of caregivers under age 60. Furthermore, this fact sheet will highlight successful program models for all relative caregivers, including those under age 60.

Challenges for Relative Caregivers of All Ages

Relative caregivers raising children have a wide variety of service and support needs. Most caregivers do not expect to assume the care of a relative’s child. Lifestyles, homes, and financial resources may not be sufficient for assuming the responsibility of caring for children. Additionally, relative caregivers under age 60 may be raising children of their own. They may be employed or planning for retirement. Regardless of age, this unexpected responsibility may change the lives of relative caregivers dramatically.

Caregivers raising kin children face significant challenges. For example, many relative caregiver families do not have access to adequate housing. It is difficult for relative caregivers to obtain useful information and assistance on services that can help them. Further, relative caregivers with no legal relationship may have limited ability to access medical, educational, or financial services to meet children’s needs.

Physical and Mental Health of Caregivers- A study of relative caregivers receiving child-only Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) grants revealed that relative caregivers have poorer health than their non-caregiving counterparts.6 On average, relative caregivers in their early 50s had the same level of physical health to that of a 70-year-old in the general non-caregiving population. Because 75% of the relative caregivers in the study were under 60 years old (with an average age of 52), the results may suggest that since the full group had such poor health, caregivers under 60 have abnormally poor health.