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Abstract:
The purpose of this article is to highlight the increasing and important role that grandparents play in raising their grandchildren without the children's parents present. African American grandparents are disproportionately affected by this trend. The theoretical underpinnings in this article suggest that the African American family is a social system embedded and interwoven with the wider society or macro system. Grandparent caregivers and their grandchildren are viewed as subsystems. The social factors and forces in the wider society that lead to grandparents assuming the primary caregiver role are presented in order to enhance the understanding of their unique challenges. Social service support systems are discussed as well as recommendations for future program development and research.
Keywords: African American, caregiver, gender, grandparents, grandchildren, class, race.
There has been a substantial increase in the number of households headed by grandparents. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 1970, 2.2 million (3.2%) of American children lived in a household maintained by a grandparent. By 1997, this number had risen to 3.9 million (5.5%). Substantial increases occurred among all types of households maintained by grandparents regardless of the presence or absence of the grandchildren's parents, but were the greatest among children with only one parent in the household (Casper & Bryson, 1998). However, Figure one illustrates that since 1990, the greatest growth by far has occurred in the number of grandchildren residing with their grandparents only, with neither parent present (Figure 1).
According to U.S. Census Bureau 2000, nationally, 2.4 million grandparents report they are responsible for their grandchildren living with them (AARP, 2003). The phenomenon transcends all socioeconomic groups, geographic areas, and ethnicities. These grandparents may be young grandparents in their 40's, retired grandparents living on Social Security, or anywhere in between: 29 percent of these grandparents are African American, 17 percent are Hispanic/Latino, 2 percent are American Indian, or Alaskan Native, 3 percent are Asian, and 47 percent are White (AARP, 2003). Thirty-four percent of these grandparents live in households without the children's parents present. Seventy-one percent are under the age of 60 and 19 percent live in poverty (AARP, 2003).
African Americans and Native Americans 30 years and older are more than 3 times has likely as White Americans to be responsible for a...