Growing up in New York, I was raised by my grandmother. My story is a familiar one for the 7.7 million children who live with their grandparents and the 1 million of children raised by them.
My story began when I was two years old. My grandmother raised me because both my parents worked (day and night) and wanted a relative rather than a stranger care for me. For the greater part of my childhood, she was my mother. She was the one who walked me to the bus stop and the first one standing in line, waiting for me to come home.
I was blessed to have been raised by my grandmother, and I am not alone.
Nearly 1 million children in the United States are raised by their grandparents or relatives. Often known as “Grandfamilies” or multigenerational households, the reasons range from a diversity of circumstances such as single parenthood to financial instability, death, mental illness, substance abuse, deployment and incarceration.
In the United States alone, one in ten children are living with a grandparent and increasingly so with the absence of the biological parents. This has led to growing trend of grandparents, especially grandmothers, stepping in as the parent figure . . . again.
This blog will try to raise awareness surrounding Grand Families by highlighting related news articles, resource links, and videos.
Down the line, we hope to garner enough support to create a web series that will shed light on the often overlooked subject of Grand Families:
- Their Struggles
- Their Triumphs,
- Our Community
“Grand Daughters Rising” will be a platform dedicated to sharing their story and your’s.
Please feel free to share our articles and give a voice to the “Grandfamily.”
If you have any questions or would like to share your story, leave us a message under the CASTING tab.
Best,
Grand Daughters Rising
The USDA’s website (United States Department of Agriculture) offers a “
Grand Daughters Rising 