Grandparents become parents again in many cases

A generation of kids who’ve lost parents to violence or substance abuse are being raised by grandparents who never thought they’d return to fulltime parenting with the children of their children. But in Iowa, families show a different side.Jerry Foxhoven administrator of the Child Advocacy Board, says compared to a national two and-a-half million grandparents meeting the basic needs of grandchildren, Iowa has only 13-thousand, and there are 28-thousand grandparents living in a household that includes their grandchildren. Foxhoven says that could mean something entirely different. To him, it shows there are plenty of three-generation homes in Iowa where grandparents, parents and child all live together. He points out it’s family solidarity in some cases, but in others could mean tough economic times, with the elderly on fixed incomes having to live with their grown children or adults having to move in with their older parents. In the past, Foxhoven says people who cared for their grandchildren faced a Catch-22…they couldn’t get the same benefits non-related foster parents receive from the government. He says they’re just as entitled as reimbursement as any other foster parent, though he says it also means they’re bound by the same rules like training and licensing. The child advocacy board can get grandparents information on their rights as foster parents. See their website, under the state’s department of inspections and appeals. at www.state.ia.us/government/dia/page11