Public Information Office | Multimedia
Grandparents as Caregivers

In 2000, the Census Bureau for the first time collected information on grandparents who were primary caregivers for their grandchildren. The numbers revealed that about 5.8 million grandparents were living with grandchildren under the age of 18. Forty-two percent of these grandparents were responsible for the care of their grandchildren. This multimedia web page supports the Census Bureau’s latest release, “Grandparents Living with Grandchildren: 2000" [PDF].

NEWS RELEASE — One-third of grandparent caregivers lived in “skipped generation” households where neither parent of the grandchild was present, according to a U.S. Census Bureau report released today. The report is based on Census 2000 data...(more).
Click here to view the video on Grandparents as Caregivers.
 

VIDEO — This video contains comments from Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon and Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United. (Script)

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For more information, call (301) 763-3011 or e-mail <broadcast@census.gov>.

PHOTOGRAPHS — The following photos may be used to illustrate news articles, brochures and other publications. Click on the thumbnail photos for downloadable high-resolution images and captions.
A grandmother provides care for her grandson.
A great-grandmother provides care for her two great-grandchildren.
A grandmother reads to her three grandchildren.
A grandmother helps her young granddaughter brush her teeth.
Grandparents caring for their grandson.
A grandmother and her two grandchildren hug.
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AUDIO NEWS RELEASE — This audio news release (ANR) offers a picture of grandparents serving as the caregivers of their grandchildren, the issues they face, and why new data from the Census Bureau is important. Running time :59.


RADIO SOUND BITES — These radio soundbites offer new statistics about grandparents as caregivers. Census Bureau Director Louis Kincannon discusses the national data collected during Census 2000.

Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, a national coalition dedicated to intergenerational policy programs and issues, talks about how Census data has been helpful in understanding these issues and trends.

The sound bites can be heard in RealAudio or downloaded in the MP3 format (1.0 M).
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Louis Kincannon, Director of the U.S. Census Bureau:

"More than one-third of grandparent caregivers lived in “skipped generation” households…that is…where no parent was present."
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"Of the grandparents living with their grandchildren, more than 40 percent are serving as the primary caregiver."
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"In 2000, nearly 6 million grandparents lived with their grandchildren under age 18."
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Donna Butts, Executive Director of Generations United:
"Grandparents raising grandchildren has been a very significant and important issue in terms of people who are playing a role to help hold our families together in this country."
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“We now know more about how many grandparents are caring for children, how many other relatives are…we know more about their likelihood to be in poverty, we know more about their housing situation, we know more about the services that need to be created to support them…all because census numbers have given us that base to work with.”
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES — To find out more about grandparents and the grandchildren who live with them, review these resources:
Grandparents Living with Grandchildren: 2000 [PDF]
Facts for Features: Grandparents Day 2003
AARP "Grandparents As Caregivers"

ARCHIVE — View other Census Bureau Multimedia Pages.

[PDF] or PDF denotes a file in Adobe’s Portable Document Format. To view the file, you will need the Adobe® Acrobat® Reader This link to a non-federal Web site does not imply endorsement of any particular product, company, or content. available free from Adobe.


Source: U.S. Census Bureau
Public Information Office
301-763-3030
Last Revised: February 10, 2004 at 09:08:39 AM