Who among us expects our golden years to include daily diaper changing and nightly math homework?
National demographics, including recent US Census data, suggest an increasing share of us will spend our retirement years raising children: specifically, our grandchildren. And we may find ourselves doing this alone, without the assistance of either parent.
An estimated 6 million American children (1 in 12) live in households headed by relatives other than their parents. Current estimates suggest that there are 2.5 million grand-parent headed households, a growing number of those without either parent present.
In my current home state of Pennsylvania, more than 164,000 children (or 5.6% of Pennsylvania’s children) live in grandparent-headed households. Of these households, 35% have neither parent present and 19% live in poverty.
If you are a grand-caregiver, what are your rights? What resources exist in your state? To learn more, check out www.grandfactsheets.org.
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