US census data: Grandparents raising grandchildren grows

Grandparents raising grandchildren is not a new phenomenon. It is, however, a rapidly growing one.

Census data shows that the incidence of increased grandparent involvement in raising their own grandchildren is getting more and more common. As of 2010 about 6 million children, nearly 8 percent of all children, were recorded as living with grandparents identified as head of household.

That number is nearly twice what it was in the 2000 census.

Sometimes grandparents must take over a child who has been abandoned or mistreated due to parental alienation, loss of job, drug use, incarceration, or severe poverty. The poor economy,

Grandparents also get affected in those cases where a husband and wife get a divorce, which now happens in roughly half of all marriages.

The greater number of involved grandparents has meant a whole new area of family law has developed. Grandparents rights and grandparents custody rights have become big issues. Unfortunately, though court cases are appearing every day, the law has not kept up with the growing responsibility of parents.

Grandparents should not think that access or custody of the grandchildren is a given despite their increased involvement with them. The US Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2000 that made it more difficult for grandparents to obtain court-ordered visitation with their grandchildren.

In the case of Troxel v. Granville, the Court found that fit parents should be given more deference on decisions regarding whom the child will associate with than was provided by the state law. Although Troxell no longer seems to fit reality today, it is still the ‘law of the land.’

Grandparents in every state have rights, in some circumstances, to be awarded custody of their grandchildren or to be awarded court-ordered visitation with their grandchildren. Grandparents’ custody rights are not constitutional in nature, nor did they exist at common law. Recognition of grandparents’ rights by state legislatures is a fairly recent trend, and most of the statutes have been in effect for less than 40 years.

To read more about grandparents custody rights check out my book No Greater Loss.