2006 State Report > Who We Are > Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
Who We Are: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren
According to the 2004 American Community Survey, an estimated 2.4 million grandparents nationwide are responsible for their grandchildren under 18 years old. Many grandparents caring for grandchildren, especially those without legal custody, face problems not encountered by biological parents. They may have difficulties placing the children on their health insurance policies, obtaining affordable housing in which they can live with the children, or enrolling the children in school.
There are many reasons that parents may be unable to care for their children, often placing responsibility for their care on grandparents who want to avoid seeing the children placed in the foster care system. Possible reasons for the increase in parents who rely on grandparents to take responsibility for their grandchildren include: death of a parent, substance abuse, child abuse or neglect, teenage pregnancy, incarceration, AIDS and other medical problems, and poverty.
In South Carolina in 2004, 97,004 grandparents were living with their grandchildren under the age of 18, and 53,881 of these grandparents (55.5 percent) were responsible for their grandchildren. Among grandparents responsible for their grandchildren, 37,446 (69.5 percent) were between the ages of 30 and 59, and 16,435 (30.5 percent) were aged 60 and older.
Becoming responsible for a grandchild can have a significant impact on a grandparent's finances. Nearly thirty percent of South Carolina's grandparents responsible for grandchildren in 2004 had incomes below poverty in the past twelve months. More than half of the state's grandparents raising grandchildren were in the labor force in 2004 (60.9 percent). Among grandparents aged 60 and older who were responsible for their grandchildren in 2004, 34.1 percent were still in the labor force.
According to an analysis of data from the 2002 and 2003 American Community Surveys, there were 21,375 workers in South Carolina aged 45 and older who were responsible for their grandchildren. These grandparents account for 2.9 percent of all workers aged 45 and older.
Of the 53,881 grandparents responsible for their own grandchildren in 2004:
- 12.0 percent had been responsible for their grandchildren for less than six months.
- 2.8 percent had been responsible for six to eleven months.
- 26.4 percent had been responsible for one or two years.
- 20.9 percent had been responsible for three or four years.
- 37.9 percent had been responsible for five years or more.