Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 is Grandparents Day. Many grandparents will receive loving cards, calls and emails from their grandchildren.

However, a significant number of grandparents – approximately 2.9 million – will do exactly what they do every day. They will make their grandchildren breakfast, organize their activities and help with homework in the evening.

So-called “custodial grandparents” have primary responsibility for raising one or more of their grandchildren. As researchers and health and social service professionals, we know that this is a growing group of often invisible caregivers.

Grandparents Day is a fitting moment to take a closer look at the social contribution grandparents are making and the impact of unexpected caregiving – often in later stages of life.

Not a new phenomenon but a changing one

Custodial grandparents are represented in all races and ethnicities. However, grandparents in racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the population of caregivers. It’s also worth noting that 67 percent are younger than age 60, and 25 percent live in poverty despite the fact that about half of custodial grandparents are in the labor force.

Grandparent caregiving is not a new phenomenon: Kin care has historically been part of family life. Former President Barack Obama chronicled his early life experiences being raised by maternal grandparents. In a bestselling book, JD Vance writes about his childhood in Appalachia being raised by his “Mamaw.”

While it’s not a new trend, the reasons for and experience of raising grandchildren have changed over recent decades.

Consider, for example, the African-American community. In her 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson documents the great migration of African-Americans from the South to other regions of the United States between World War I and the 1970s. During this time, grandparents and other relatives served as substitute parents as families resettled and secured employment. In this care-sharing tradition, grandparents and other families were available during times of transition and relocation.

Since the mid-1990s, several social conditions have caused the number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to increase.

Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to a rise in the number of custodial grandparents. A recent Pew Trusts report documents how the current opioid epidemic is contributing to this trend. According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than tripled from 1999 to 2015, and often leave children parentless.

The number of children placed in foster care has sharply increased, partially fueled by opioid and other drug use. When children are removed from their birth parents, federal law requires that state child protective services give preference to placement with relatives who, more often than not, are the grandparents.

Additionally, increased incarceration rates for women have changed family life. In the 1990s, female incarceration rates skyrocketed compared to the rate for fathers. Incarceration, addiction and neglect are often interconnected.

In addition to dealing with the challenging dynamics of child care, many of these grandparents are starting to experience their own age-related changes in health and functioning.

Compared with noncaregiving peers, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren have more extensive health problems. When there are limited resources – whether financial, time or energy – grandparents prioritize their grandchildren over themselves. This situation can lead to undiagnosed health problems, untreated chronic diseases and undesirable health practices such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

In addition, grandparents can experience depression and anxiety from the stress of child care. In one study of grandmothers raising grandchildren, approximately 40 percent scored in the clinically elevated range on measures of psychological distress.

In spite of these challenges, grandparents report rewards and joys that give them a sense of purpose. One grandparent put it this way:

Keeping grandchildren in their own cultural community is another important motivation for many. For example, research has demonstrated the historical commitment to care-sharing in African-American families:

From a policy perspective, grandparents provide the safety net for children who might have otherwise entered the foster care system. Nationally, it is estimated that grandparents and other kinship care providers save the government more than US$6 billion annually.

But in caring for these children, grandparents pay a high price, especially those who are raising the children alone.

What can be done to support these grandparents?

Because of increased recognition of both the prevalence and urgent needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, many communities have created grandparent support groups and “kinship navigator” programs that help identify and access much-needed public and private resources.

Programs such as Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University offer support and health interventions to help grandparents remain healthy and effective care providers. Support includes home visits, early intervention services for children with developmental disabilities (which are often related to prenatal substance abuse exposure) and support groups and parenting classes. Other programs are growing such as Grandhousing, which provides apartments specifically for grandparent-headed families.

Programs for grandchildren are also crucial. In one initiative that replicates our Atlanta-based model in rural Georgia, a van transports the children to an activity day so they can be with others who are are cared for by grandparents. As the driver pulled up to the second house, the two sisters already in the van exclaimed:

Clearly, seeing other children in families like theirs was surprising and important to the sisters!

For many, Grandparents Day is celebrated one time per year. And grandchildren’s visits are a “delight” lasting just a few hours. But for about three million children, being with grandparents is a daily fact.

We believe it is time for these families to be recognized more formally by policymakers and service providers. Without more extensive official responses, grandparents may receive little or no support until they experience a physical or mental health crisis.

Nancy P. Kropf, Dean and Professor of Social Work, Byrdine F Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions., Georgia State University and Susan Kelley, Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.</s>Grandparents are special family members and are celebrated during Grandparents Day on Sunday, September 10.

Did you know there are more than 70 MILLION grandparents just in the US and most of them still read the newspaper. Ninety percent LOVE talking about their grandkids.

Look at these other fun stats about grandparents:

How to Connect with Your Grandchildren</s>Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 is Grandparents Day. Many grandparents will receive loving cards, calls and emails from their grandchildren.

However, a significant number of grandparents – approximately 2.9 million – will do exactly what they do every day. They will make their grandchildren breakfast, organize their activities and help with homework in the evening.

So-called “custodial grandparents” have primary responsibility for raising one or more of their grandchildren. As researchers and health and social service professionals, we know that this is a growing group of often invisible caregivers.

Grandparents Day is a fitting moment to take a closer look at the social contribution grandparents are making and the impact of unexpected caregiving – often in later stages of life.

Not a new phenomenon but a changing one

Custodial grandparents are represented in all races and ethnicities. However, grandparents in racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the population of caregivers. It’s also worth noting that 67 percent are younger than age 60, and 25 percent live in poverty despite the fact that about half of custodial grandparents are in the labor force.

Grandparent caregiving is not a new phenomenon: Kin care has historically been part of family life. Former President Barack Obama chronicled his early life experiences being raised by maternal grandparents. In a bestselling book, JD Vance writes about his childhood in Appalachia being raised by his “Mamaw.”

While it’s not a new trend, the reasons for and experience of raising grandchildren have changed over recent decades.

Consider, for example, the African-American community. In her 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson documents the great migration of African-Americans from the South to other regions of the United States between World War I and the 1970s. During this time, grandparents and other relatives served as substitute parents as families resettled and secured employment. In this care-sharing tradition, grandparents and other families were available during times of transition and relocation.

Since the mid-1990s, several social conditions have caused the number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to increase.

Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to a rise in the number of custodial grandparents. A recent Pew Trusts report documents how the current opioid epidemic is contributing to this trend. According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than tripled from 1999 to 2015, and often leave children parentless.

The number of children placed in foster care has sharply increased, partially fueled by opioid and other drug use. When children are removed from their birth parents, federal law requires that state child protective services give preference to placement with relatives who, more often than not, are the grandparents.

Additionally, increased incarceration rates for women have changed family life. In the 1990s, female incarceration rates skyrocketed compared to the rate for fathers. Incarceration, addiction and neglect are often interconnected.

In addition to dealing with the challenging dynamics of child care, many of these grandparents are starting to experience their own age-related changes in health and functioning.

Compared with noncaregiving peers, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren have more extensive health problems. When there are limited resources – whether financial, time or energy – grandparents prioritize their grandchildren over themselves. This situation can lead to undiagnosed health problems, untreated chronic diseases and undesirable health practices such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

In addition, grandparents can experience depression and anxiety from the stress of child care. In one study of grandmothers raising grandchildren, approximately 40 percent scored in the clinically elevated range on measures of psychological distress.

In spite of these challenges, grandparents report rewards and joys that give them a sense of purpose. One grandparent put it this way:

Keeping grandchildren in their own cultural community is another important motivation for many. For example, research has demonstrated the historical commitment to care-sharing in African-American families:

From a policy perspective, grandparents provide the safety net for children who might have otherwise entered the foster care system. Nationally, it is estimated that grandparents and other kinship care providers save the government more than US$6 billion annually.

But in caring for these children, grandparents pay a high price, especially those who are raising the children alone.

What can be done to support these grandparents?

Because of increased recognition of both the prevalence and urgent needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, many communities have created grandparent support groups and “kinship navigator” programs that help identify and access much-needed public and private resources.

Programs such as Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University offer support and health interventions to help grandparents remain healthy and effective care providers. Support includes home visits, early intervention services for children with developmental disabilities (which are often related to prenatal substance abuse exposure) and support groups and parenting classes. Other programs are growing such as Grandhousing, which provides apartments specifically for grandparent-headed families.

Programs for grandchildren are also crucial. In one initiative that replicates our Atlanta-based model in rural Georgia, a van transports the children to an activity day so they can be with others who are are cared for by grandparents. As the driver pulled up to the second house, the two sisters already in the van exclaimed:

Clearly, seeing other children in families like theirs was surprising and important to the sisters!

For many, Grandparents Day is celebrated one time per year. And grandchildren’s visits are a “delight” lasting just a few hours. But for about three million children, being with grandparents is a daily fact.

We believe it is time for these families to be recognized more formally by policymakers and service providers. Without more extensive official responses, grandparents may receive little or no support until they experience a physical or mental health crisis.

Nancy P. Kropf, Dean and Professor of Social Work, Byrdine F Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions., Georgia State University and Susan Kelley, Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.</s>



BOSTON (CBS) – Police say there is no reason for the community to feel unsafe after four people were found dead Friday at a Groton home in what is being described as a case of “tragic family violence.”

Orion Krause, 22, was arrested and will be charged with four counts of murder after a man and three women were found dead at a home on Common Street.

Three bodies were found inside the home and a fourth was discovered outside.

The identities of the victims have not been released.

Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said the victims were an elderly man and woman, along with two middle-aged women.

All four people died from blunt trauma. Ryan said investigators have found what they believe was the murder weapon.

“I just want to reiterate what the district attorney said and assure people in the area that there is no cause for alarm,” said Groton Police Chief Groton Police Chief Donald Palma. “This was not a random act. We do believe at this point that the people were all connected and had relationships. The town is safe as it pertains to this particular incident.”

Neighbor Wagner Alcocer said he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Alcocer said he saw a naked man standing at his back door Friday evening. He said the man was covered in mud, asking for help.

Alcocer said Krause told him, “I need help, I need help. I murdered four people.”

“I asked him ‘Where are your clothes?’ and he said he left them in the woods,” Alcoc

He says he gave Krause a blanket and told him to wait outside on the chair. Krause wrapped himself in the blanket and sat on the chair.

“He was extremely calm and never raised his voice. He surrendered himself. He did what I asked and followed instructions,” Alcocer said.

He adds that he thought the victims were nice people.

“We have seen them going up the street a very nice elderly people beautiful home with gorgeous garden,” Alcocer said.

Friends stopped by the scene of the murders Saturday morning.

Flowers left at the end of the driveway of house where 4 people were killed in Groton. pic.twitter.com/68eDSeKcv7 — Doug Cope (@dcopewbz) September 9, 2017

“They’re a nice family trying to keep their parents at home and enjoy themselves in their last years. It’s just hard to really fathom it. I can’t get my heard around how anyone could do that,” said one woman who stopped at the home to leave flowers.

Another said, “We’re all touched by this in some way.”

Groton selectman Josh Degen said on Facebook a vigil will be held Sunday on Town Field, located behind Groton Public Library.

“We live in a small tight-knit community and must all work through this tragedy together,” he wrote.

Krause is scheduled to be arraigned on Monday.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030’s Doug Cope reports</s>Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 is Grandparents Day. Many grandparents will receive loving cards, calls and emails from their grandchildren.

However, a significant number of grandparents – approximately 2.9 million – will do exactly what they do every day. They will make their grandchildren breakfast, organize their activities and help with homework in the evening.

So-called “custodial grandparents” have primary responsibility for raising one or more of their grandchildren. As researchers and health and social service professionals, we know that this is a growing group of often invisible caregivers.

Grandparents Day is a fitting moment to take a closer look at the social contribution grandparents are making and the impact of unexpected caregiving – often in later stages of life.

Not a new phenomenon but a changing one

Custodial grandparents are represented in all races and ethnicities. However, grandparents in racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the population of caregivers. It’s also worth noting that 67 percent are younger than age 60, and 25 percent live in poverty despite the fact that about half of custodial grandparents are in the labor force.

Grandparent caregiving is not a new phenomenon: Kin care has historically been part of family life. Former President Barack Obama chronicled his early life experiences being raised by maternal grandparents. In a bestselling book, JD Vance writes about his childhood in Appalachia being raised by his “Mamaw.”

While it’s not a new trend, the reasons for and experience of raising grandchildren have changed over recent decades.

Consider, for example, the African-American community. In her 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson documents the great migration of African-Americans from the South to other regions of the United States between World War I and the 1970s. During this time, grandparents and other relatives served as substitute parents as families resettled and secured employment. In this care-sharing tradition, grandparents and other families were available during times of transition and relocation.

Since the mid-1990s, several social conditions have caused the number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to increase.

Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to a rise in the number of custodial grandparents. A recent Pew Trusts report documents how the current opioid epidemic is contributing to this trend. According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than tripled from 1999 to 2015, and often leave children parentless.

The number of children placed in foster care has sharply increased, partially fueled by opioid and other drug use. When children are removed from their birth parents, federal law requires that state child protective services give preference to placement with relatives who, more often than not, are the grandparents.

Additionally, increased incarceration rates for women have changed family life. In the 1990s, female incarceration rates skyrocketed compared to the rate for fathers. Incarceration, addiction and neglect are often interconnected.

In addition to dealing with the challenging dynamics of child care, many of these grandparents are starting to experience their own age-related changes in health and functioning.

Compared with noncaregiving peers, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren have more extensive health problems. When there are limited resources – whether financial, time or energy – grandparents prioritize their grandchildren over themselves. This situation can lead to undiagnosed health problems, untreated chronic diseases and undesirable health practices such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

In addition, grandparents can experience depression and anxiety from the stress of child care. In one study of grandmothers raising grandchildren, approximately 40 percent scored in the clinically elevated range on measures of psychological distress.

In spite of these challenges, grandparents report rewards and joys that give them a sense of purpose. One grandparent put it this way:

Keeping grandchildren in their own cultural community is another important motivation for many. For example, research has demonstrated the historical commitment to care-sharing in African-American families:

From a policy perspective, grandparents provide the safety net for children who might have otherwise entered the foster care system. Nationally, it is estimated that grandparents and other kinship care providers save the government more than US$6 billion annually.

But in caring for these children, grandparents pay a high price, especially those who are raising the children alone.

What can be done to support these grandparents?

Because of increased recognition of both the prevalence and urgent needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, many communities have created grandparent support groups and “kinship navigator” programs that help identify and access much-needed public and private resources.

Programs such as Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University offer support and health interventions to help grandparents remain healthy and effective care providers. Support includes home visits, early intervention services for children with developmental disabilities (which are often related to prenatal substance abuse exposure) and support groups and parenting classes. Other programs are growing such as Grandhousing, which provides apartments specifically for grandparent-headed families.

Programs for grandchildren are also crucial. In one initiative that replicates our Atlanta-based model in rural Georgia, a van transports the children to an activity day so they can be with others who are are cared for by grandparents. As the driver pulled up to the second house, the two sisters already in the van exclaimed:

Clearly, seeing other children in families like theirs was surprising and important to the sisters!

For many, Grandparents Day is celebrated one time per year. And grandchildren’s visits are a “delight” lasting just a few hours. But for about three million children, being with grandparents is a daily fact.

We believe it is time for these families to be recognized more formally by policymakers and service providers. Without more extensive official responses, grandparents may receive little or no support until they experience a physical or mental health crisis.

Nancy P. Kropf, Dean and Professor of Social Work, Byrdine F Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions., Georgia State University and Susan Kelley, Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.</s>Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 is Grandparents Day. Many grandparents will receive loving cards, calls and emails from their grandchildren.

However, a significant number of grandparents – approximately 2.9 million – will do exactly what they do every day. They will make their grandchildren breakfast, organize their activities and help with homework in the evening.

So-called “custodial grandparents” have primary responsibility for raising one or more of their grandchildren. As researchers and health and social service professionals, we know that this is a growing group of often invisible caregivers.

Grandparents Day is a fitting moment to take a closer look at the social contribution grandparents are making and the impact of unexpected caregiving – often in later stages of life.

Not a new phenomenon but a changing one

Custodial grandparents are represented in all races and ethnicities. However, grandparents in racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the population of caregivers. It’s also worth noting that 67 percent are younger than age 60, and 25 percent live in poverty despite the fact that about half of custodial grandparents are in the labor force.

Grandparent caregiving is not a new phenomenon: Kin care has historically been part of family life. Former President Barack Obama chronicled his early life experiences being raised by maternal grandparents. In a bestselling book, JD Vance writes about his childhood in Appalachia being raised by his “Mamaw.”

While it’s not a new trend, the reasons for and experience of raising grandchildren have changed over recent decades.

Consider, for example, the African-American community. In her 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson documents the great migration of African-Americans from the South to other regions of the United States between World War I and the 1970s. During this time, grandparents and other relatives served as substitute parents as families resettled and secured employment. In this care-sharing tradition, grandparents and other families were available during times of transition and relocation.

Since the mid-1990s, several social conditions have caused the number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to increase.

Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to a rise in the number of custodial grandparents. A recent Pew Trusts report documents how the current opioid epidemic is contributing to this trend. According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than tripled from 1999 to 2015, and often leave children parentless.

The number of children placed in foster care has sharply increased, partially fueled by opioid and other drug use. When children are removed from their birth parents, federal law requires that state child protective services give preference to placement with relatives who, more often than not, are the grandparents.

Additionally, increased incarceration rates for women have changed family life. In the 1990s, female incarceration rates skyrocketed compared to the rate for fathers. Incarceration, addiction and neglect are often interconnected.

In addition to dealing with the challenging dynamics of child care, many of these grandparents are starting to experience their own age-related changes in health and functioning.

Compared with noncaregiving peers, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren have more extensive health problems. When there are limited resources – whether financial, time or energy – grandparents prioritize their grandchildren over themselves. This situation can lead to undiagnosed health problems, untreated chronic diseases and undesirable health practices such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

In addition, grandparents can experience depression and anxiety from the stress of child care. In one study of grandmothers raising grandchildren, approximately 40 percent scored in the clinically elevated range on measures of psychological distress.

In spite of these challenges, grandparents report rewards and joys that give them a sense of purpose. One grandparent put it this way:

Keeping grandchildren in their own cultural community is another important motivation for many. For example, research has demonstrated the historical commitment to care-sharing in African-American families:

From a policy perspective, grandparents provide the safety net for children who might have otherwise entered the foster care system. Nationally, it is estimated that grandparents and other kinship care providers save the government more than US$6 billion annually.

But in caring for these children, grandparents pay a high price, especially those who are raising the children alone.

What can be done to support these grandparents?

Because of increased recognition of both the prevalence and urgent needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, many communities have created grandparent support groups and “kinship navigator” programs that help identify and access much-needed public and private resources.

Programs such as Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University offer support and health interventions to help grandparents remain healthy and effective care providers. Support includes home visits, early intervention services for children with developmental disabilities (which are often related to prenatal substance abuse exposure) and support groups and parenting classes. Other programs are growing such as Grandhousing, which provides apartments specifically for grandparent-headed families.

Programs for grandchildren are also crucial. In one initiative that replicates our Atlanta-based model in rural Georgia, a van transports the children to an activity day so they can be with others who are are cared for by grandparents. As the driver pulled up to the second house, the two sisters already in the van exclaimed:

Clearly, seeing other children in families like theirs was surprising and important to the sisters!

For many, Grandparents Day is celebrated one time per year. And grandchildren’s visits are a “delight” lasting just a few hours. But for about three million children, being with grandparents is a daily fact.

We believe it is time for these families to be recognized more formally by policymakers and service providers. Without more extensive official responses, grandparents may receive little or no support until they experience a physical or mental health crisis.

Nancy P. Kropf, Dean and Professor of Social Work, Byrdine F Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions., Georgia State University and Susan Kelley, Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.</s>Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 is Grandparents Day. Many grandparents will receive loving cards, calls and emails from their grandchildren.

However, a significant number of grandparents – approximately 2.9 million – will do exactly what they do every day. They will make their grandchildren breakfast, organize their activities and help with homework in the evening.

So-called “custodial grandparents” have primary responsibility for raising one or more of their grandchildren. As researchers and health and social service professionals, we know that this is a growing group of often invisible caregivers.

Grandparents Day is a fitting moment to take a closer look at the social contribution grandparents are making and the impact of unexpected caregiving – often in later stages of life.

Not a new phenomenon but a changing one

Custodial grandparents are represented in all races and ethnicities. However, grandparents in racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the population of caregivers. It’s also worth noting that 67 percent are younger than age 60, and 25 percent live in poverty despite the fact that about half of custodial grandparents are in the labor force.

Grandparent caregiving is not a new phenomenon: Kin care has historically been part of family life. Former President Barack Obama chronicled his early life experiences being raised by maternal grandparents. In a bestselling book, JD Vance writes about his childhood in Appalachia being raised by his “Mamaw.”

While it’s not a new trend, the reasons for and experience of raising grandchildren have changed over recent decades.

Consider, for example, the African-American community. In her 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson documents the great migration of African-Americans from the South to other regions of the United States between World War I and the 1970s. During this time, grandparents and other relatives served as substitute parents as families resettled and secured employment. In this care-sharing tradition, grandparents and other families were available during times of transition and relocation.

Since the mid-1990s, several social conditions have caused the number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to increase.

Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to a rise in the number of custodial grandparents. A recent Pew Trusts report documents how the current opioid epidemic is contributing to this trend. According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than tripled from 1999 to 2015, and often leave children parentless.

The number of children placed in foster care has sharply increased, partially fueled by opioid and other drug use. When children are removed from their birth parents, federal law requires that state child protective services give preference to placement with relatives who, more often than not, are the grandparents.

Additionally, increased incarceration rates for women have changed family life. In the 1990s, female incarceration rates skyrocketed compared to the rate for fathers. Incarceration, addiction and neglect are often interconnected.

In addition to dealing with the challenging dynamics of child care, many of these grandparents are starting to experience their own age-related changes in health and functioning.

Compared with noncaregiving peers, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren have more extensive health problems. When there are limited resources – whether financial, time or energy – grandparents prioritize their grandchildren over themselves. This situation can lead to undiagnosed health problems, untreated chronic diseases and undesirable health practices such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

In addition, grandparents can experience depression and anxiety from the stress of child care. In one study of grandmothers raising grandchildren, approximately 40 percent scored in the clinically elevated range on measures of psychological distress.

In spite of these challenges, grandparents report rewards and joys that give them a sense of purpose. One grandparent put it this way:

Keeping grandchildren in their own cultural community is another important motivation for many. For example, research has demonstrated the historical commitment to care-sharing in African-American families:

From a policy perspective, grandparents provide the safety net for children who might have otherwise entered the foster care system. Nationally, it is estimated that grandparents and other kinship care providers save the government more than US$6 billion annually.

But in caring for these children, grandparents pay a high price, especially those who are raising the children alone.

What can be done to support these grandparents?

Because of increased recognition of both the prevalence and urgent needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, many communities have created grandparent support groups and “kinship navigator” programs that help identify and access much-needed public and private resources.

Programs such as Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University offer support and health interventions to help grandparents remain healthy and effective care providers. Support includes home visits, early intervention services for children with developmental disabilities (which are often related to prenatal substance abuse exposure) and support groups and parenting classes. Other programs are growing such as Grandhousing, which provides apartments specifically for grandparent-headed families.

Programs for grandchildren are also crucial. In one initiative that replicates our Atlanta-based model in rural Georgia, a van transports the children to an activity day so they can be with others who are are cared for by grandparents. As the driver pulled up to the second house, the two sisters already in the van exclaimed:

Clearly, seeing other children in families like theirs was surprising and important to the sisters!

For many, Grandparents Day is celebrated one time per year. And grandchildren’s visits are a “delight” lasting just a few hours. But for about three million children, being with grandparents is a daily fact.

We believe it is time for these families to be recognized more formally by policymakers and service providers. Without more extensive official responses, grandparents may receive little or no support until they experience a physical or mental health crisis.

Nancy P. Kropf, Dean and Professor of Social Work, Byrdine F Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions., Georgia State University and Susan Kelley, Associate Dean and Chief Academic Officer for Nursing and Director, Project Healthy Grandparents, Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions, Georgia State University

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.</s>Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017 is Grandparents Day. Many grandparents will receive loving cards, calls and emails from their grandchildren.

However, a significant number of grandparents – approximately 2.9 million – will do exactly what they do every day. They will make their grandchildren breakfast, organize their activities and help with homework in the evening.

So-called “custodial grandparents” have primary responsibility for raising one or more of their grandchildren. As researchers and health and social service professionals, we know that this is a growing group of often invisible caregivers.

Grandparents Day is a fitting moment to take a closer look at the social contribution grandparents are making and the impact of unexpected caregiving – often in later stages of life.

Not a new phenomenon but a changing one

Custodial grandparents are represented in all races and ethnicities. However, grandparents in racial and ethnic minority groups are overrepresented in the population of caregivers. It’s also worth noting that 67 percent are younger than age 60, and 25 percent live in poverty despite the fact that about half of custodial grandparents are in the labor force.

Grandparent caregiving is not a new phenomenon: Kin care has historically been part of family life. Former President Barack Obama chronicled his early life experiences being raised by maternal grandparents. In a bestselling book, JD Vance writes about his childhood in Appalachia being raised by his “Mamaw.”

While it’s not a new trend, the reasons for and experience of raising grandchildren have changed over recent decades.

Consider, for example, the African-American community. In her 2010 Pulitzer Prize-winning book, “The Warmth of Other Suns,” Isabel Wilkerson documents the great migration of African-Americans from the South to other regions of the United States between World War I and the 1970s. During this time, grandparents and other relatives served as substitute parents as families resettled and secured employment. In this care-sharing tradition, grandparents and other families were available during times of transition and relocation.

Since the mid-1990s, several social conditions have caused the number of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren to increase.

Addiction and incarceration, child abuse and neglect, and economic factors all have contributed to a rise in the number of custodial grandparents. A recent Pew Trusts report documents how the current opioid epidemic is contributing to this trend. According to the CDC, drug overdose deaths in the United States have more than tripled from 1999 to 2015, and often leave children parentless.

The number of children placed in foster care has sharply increased, partially fueled by opioid and other drug use. When children are removed from their birth parents, federal law requires that state child protective services give preference to placement with relatives who, more often than not, are the grandparents.

Additionally, increased incarceration rates for women have changed family life. In the 1990s, female incarceration rates skyrocketed compared to the rate for fathers. Incarceration, addiction and neglect are often interconnected.

In addition to dealing with the challenging dynamics of child care, many of these grandparents are starting to experience their own age-related changes in health and functioning.

Compared with noncaregiving peers, grandparents who are raising their grandchildren have more extensive health problems. When there are limited resources – whether financial, time or energy – grandparents prioritize their grandchildren over themselves. This situation can lead to undiagnosed health problems, untreated chronic diseases and undesirable health practices such as poor nutrition and lack of exercise.

In addition, grandparents can experience depression and anxiety from the stress of child care. In one study of grandmothers raising grandchildren, approximately 40 percent scored in the clinically elevated range on measures of psychological distress.

In spite of these challenges, grandparents report rewards and joys that give them a sense of purpose. One grandparent put it this way:

Keeping grandchildren in their own cultural community is another important motivation for many. For example, research has demonstrated the historical commitment to care-sharing in African-American families:

From a policy perspective, grandparents provide the safety net for children who might have otherwise entered the foster care system. Nationally, it is estimated that grandparents and other kinship care providers save the government more than US$6 billion annually.

But in caring for these children, grandparents pay a high price, especially those who are raising the children alone.

What can be done to support these grandparents?

Because of increased recognition of both the prevalence and urgent needs of grandparents raising grandchildren, many communities have created grandparent support groups and “kinship navigator” programs that help identify and access much-needed public and private resources.

Programs such as Project Healthy Grandparents at Georgia State University offer support and health interventions to help grandparents remain healthy and effective care providers. Support includes home visits, early intervention services for children with developmental disabilities (which are often related to prenatal substance abuse exposure) and support groups and parenting classes. Other programs are growing such as Grandhousing, which provides apartments specifically for grandparent-headed families.

Programs for grandchildren are also crucial. In one initiative that replicates our Atlanta-based model in rural Georgia, a van transports the children to an activity day so they can be with others who are are cared for by grandparents. As the driver pulled up to the second house, the two sisters already in the van exclaimed:

Clearly, seeing other children in families like theirs was surprising and important to the sisters!

For many, Grandparents Day is celebrated one time per year. And grandchildren’s visits are a “delight” lasting just a few hours. But for about three million children, being with grandparents is a daily fact.

We believe it is time for these families to be recognized more formally by policymakers and service providers. Without more extensive official responses, grandparents may receive little or no support until they experience a physical or mental health crisis.</s>Sunday, Sept. 10, is Grandparents’ Day. This day was started through the efforts of Marion McQuade of Oak Hill, WV, and became a national holiday in 1978.

Marion recognized that we should hold grandparents in respect and dignity and make every effort to assure their independence, good health and a comfortable later life.

Many folks in our area are grandparents, and we certainly all have or had grandparents. More and more of our citizens are living to an older age. Almost 20 percent of Greenbrier County citizens are over the age of 65, and today, over 4 million grandparents are the primary care givers of their grandchildren. Some grandparents live far away from their families. Some even have families that live in other countries. This is a day for us to remember and honor all the grandparents in our communities, locally and far and wide. In our area, both the Greenbrier County Committee on Aging and the Shepherd’s Center provide services and enrichment activities for seniors that allow them to live independently and safely. Many older citizens are also in local assisted living and nursing facilities.

Both adults and kids should remember and honor grandparents not only on Sept. 10, but every day. Grandparents can share their wisdom and experience, and in turn benefit from the enthusiasms and energies of youth. So on Grandparents’ Day, remember our grandparents, and give a special salute and thank you for their many contributions to our families and communities – a call, a visit, a card, a prayer – “something grand for grandparents.”
In Groton, Massachusetts, Orion Krause is arrested for killing his mother, grandparents, and a caretaker in their home. Authorities believe the killings were an act of domestic violence.