by KYW's Dr. Marciene Mattleman
They’re known as “encore parents” - grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. As families struggle with economic hardship, substance abuse, incarceration, mental illness, military service, divorce and domestic violence, 2.4 million grandparents in the US reported in the 2000 census that they were responsible for their grandchildren.
Their households are referred to as “skipped generations.”
In Pennsylvania in 2005, more than 80,000 grandparents listed grandchildren living with them, over 21,000 in Philadelphia. Of these, 62% were white; 28% were African American; 6% were Hispanic/ Latino; 2% were Asian.
Sixty-one percent were under 60 and 19% lived in poverty. There is no question that the number of poor has increased.
While there is much love between the generations, the strains of raising children when people expected life to be easier are hard on grandparents. For kids, sometimes moving to other schools, often issues of grief, and interruption of developmental stages makes life difficult.
Hopefully, when there is universal health care, improved housing and expanded employment, the numbers of encore parents will decrease.
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