Grandparents raising grandchildren focus of bill

A report released last year highlighted the growing trend of Ohio grandparents raising their grandchildren.

According to the report, there are about 40,000 households in Ohio where grandparents live with grandkids. About 20 percent of those households live in poverty and about 42 percent have no parent present.

“Because of the inadequate funding for kinship care assistance, and because it is very hard to measure the number of grandparents caring for children when

they do not have legal custody, it is difficult to determine how they have been affected economically,” Philip Cole, executive director of the Ohio Association of Community Action Agencies said last year.

A recently passed U.S. Senate bill awaiting the president’s signature is aimed at helping grandparents caught up in the growing trend.

The Supporting Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Act would establish a federal task force to identify, coordinate and share information and resources to help grandparents and other relatives who are stepping up to raise children meet the needs of kids in their care while maintaining their own health and well-being.

U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is one of the sponsors of the bipartisan bill. Brown said his office has heard from a number of affected grandparents. He points to the opioid epidemic as one of the contributing factors to the trend.

“Experts report these

numbers are growing as the epidemic gets worse,” he said.

The epidemic creates a challenge for grandparents as the children they are raising are dealing with the trauma of losing parents. Grandparents themselves are dealing with their own set of health challenges as they age.

“Any parent of a young toddler can tell you caring for young children can be physically demanding,” he said.

Grandparents and other relatives raising these children often don’t get the same financial support that a foster parent would receive.

“For so many grandparents then, taking on that responsibility means the end of retirement for those who can go back to work or depletion of savings,” Brown said.

Brown said there is a long way to go to support these families, but the bill is a step in the right direction.

“We need to learn more about the challenges facing grandparents and other relatives in Ohio who have stepped up as caregivers, so we can support them as they raise these children,” he said.