There has been a sharp rise in the number of children being raised by their grandparents in the US, new figures show. One of the causes is continued family breakdown. 
The figures, compiled by think tank, Child Trends, show that in the period 2005-2007 there were about 4.6 million children who lived in households headed by one or more grandparents, and by 2008-2010, this had risen to 5.2 million—about seven percent of all children.
According to Child Trends, two of the major causes of this include “increasing numbers of lone-parent families” and “continued high rates of marital dissolution”.
Other factors cited include parents’ incarceration, parental substance abuse and the difficult economic conditions.
In about 40pc of cases the grandparents were primarily responsible for their grandchildren’s basic needs—that is, for food, shelter, clothing, child care etc.
Of this latter group, more than one-third (or nearly one million children) were in the care of a grandparent without the presence of either of the child’s parents.
By 2008-10 the age distribution of these children was slightly younger overall than in 2005-2007. A grandparent had primary responsibility for 2.8 million children (an increase of about 255,000 from the earlier period), and of this group of children about one-third were living with neither parent—a decrease of about 29,000 children.
In 2005-2007, about six million grandparents shared residence with their minor grandchildren; of these, 2.5 million (41 percent) had primary responsibility for the care of one or more grandchildren.
Within this smaller group, about one in five (20 percent) were living on incomes below the federal poverty level. In contrast, the rate of poverty among all adults who were 35 or older was less than half as high: nine percent.
By 2008-2010, about 700,000 more grandparents resided with their grandchildren than did so during the previous period. Among these grandparents, about the same proportion as in the previous time period were primarily responsible for their grandchildren’s care (40 percent). Poverty among this group rose to 20 percent (while poverty among all adults ages 35 and older rose to 10 percent).
