Many Grandparents Resuming Roles as Parents Again - East Idaho News

Many Grandparents Resuming Roles as Parents Again

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GETTY 9513 Grandpa?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1378389667853iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — A lot of grandparents are going through the whole parenting thing all over again, according a new Pew Research Center study released Wednesday.

Due to the recession, divorce and single-parenthood, Pew found that one in 10 children in the U.S. is now living with at least one grandparent and generally speaking, residing in their grandparent’s home.

Furthermore, the responsibility of caring for about 3 million of these 7.7 million children is falling on a grandparent with twice as many black children than other races falling into this category.

Meanwhile, 55 percent of grandparents now acting as primary caregivers for the children of their children have done it for three or more years.

That’s because two of 10 parents living with a grandparent caregiver don’t have a job — double that of households where parents care for minors in their own homes.

Meanwhile, Pew researcher Gretchen Livingston said while the numbers skyrocketed in 2007, they’ve stabilized over the past few years, adding, “We can’t know for sure but it suggests that perhaps the economy has started to recover, and there’s less need for grandparents to be helping out by either living or caring for their grandchildren.”

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