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David Stanley Ford

47,000: Grandparents raising kids’ kids

The Oklahoman Editorial    Comments Comment on this article14
Published: November 2, 2009

A state House committee heard startling statistics last week regarding the number of children who are being raised by grandparents in Oklahoma. It’s easy to see why at least two lawmakers want to see if there’s a way to help.

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An attorney who spoke to the committee said one in every 14 kids in Oklahoma is being raised by a grandparent. According to Census data, nearly 40 percent of grandparents will care for those children for at least five years.

Our state has nearly 47,000 grandparents who are raising about 57,000 children. Only six other states have more grandparents serving this important role.

The attorney explained that grandparents left to raise grandkids face a number of legal issues. A Department of Human Services official related that often times, grandparents are thrown into these situations with little or no warning. Nearly half of the children they care for are younger than 6.

Democratic state Reps. Wade Rousselot and Jeannie McDaniel, who conducted the interim study on this issue, would like to see the state do more to assist grandparents. McDaniel says many grandparents don’t know how to apply for Medicaid, obtain shot records, or deal with current issues such as text-messaging. "We need to have a Web site and educational classes available all over the state for these grandparents,” she said.

Parents who become grandparents look forward to doting on grandchildren, not raising them. Lawmakers would do well to see if there are cost-efficient ways to ease these grandparents’ burdens.

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David Stanley Ford



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Does anybody really believe the mothers in prison were raising the kids before they were locked up? Many believe the women should not be locked up for drug offenses. That's for a different forum, but who was taking care of the kids while parents were getting high?

If you do a good job raising adults, you will only be taking care of children for 21 or 22 years, the last few years it's a part time job. Then you complain about never getting visited, not seeing the grandkids, etc. If you do a good job raising children, you will be taking care of adults your whole life, and don't be surprised if you are raising grandchildren.
Mark, Oklahoma City - Nov 4, 2009 at 6:37 pm
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"we are number one at putting women in prison, and 80 percent of them are mothers." I agree with Stinkerpants. This approach is not sustainable.
It is admirable that these grandparents stepped in to keep these children out of the foster care system. God bless them.
Amber, norman - Nov 4, 2009 at 1:50 pm
Mike, if you know someone raising their grandchildren, have them contact DHS for assistance. They deal with this situation every day.
Concerned, Central Oklahoma - Nov 3, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Ed, OKC, where did you find that statistic? (536 white grandparents out of a 47,000 total.) Did the source list the race of all the other grandparents raising grandchildren, because I would find that interesting, too.

Nice post, Silas. In my opinion you hit the nail square on the head.
Concerned, Central Oklahoma - Nov 3, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Ed, where did you get your facts? Fox "news"? Those numbers are just wrong.
misy, Oklahoma City - Nov 3, 2009 at 9:25 am
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Of the 47,000 grandparents raising their grandkids, 536 are white. The rest of the granparents are black. Not that these numbers mean anything, I just found it interesting.
Ed, Oklahoma City - Nov 3, 2009 at 3:00 am
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Some of the posters are into blaming someone. How about more support for those who are raising their grandchildren?
Mike - Nov 3, 2009 at 1:53 am
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Easy explanation, which also explains why we lead the nation in out-of-wedlock pregnancy, teen pregnancy, divorce, incarceration of women (in this category we lead the entire world) child neglect and sexual abuse, and on and on and on. Evangelical fundamentalist Christians who believe that if we prayed in school all our problems would be solved and vehemently oppose any form of sex education at any level of public education even when it is combined with a strong emphasis on abstention as the best protection. The vast majority of States educate their young pubescent school kids on birth control and prevention of STD's as part of a general health education and their statistics in these areas show the result. If Okies like low taxes they will come around on these issues or see this State go bankrupt quickly because we cannot afford to raise all these kids who are being born to teens who too often don't know where babies come from or what causes pregnancy until they are pregnant and of course they don't finish high school and never make enough money to support themselves or their kids. Hence the grandparent story here.
Silas, Tardville - Nov 3, 2009 at 1:02 am
Most industry analysts are purporting that the practice is only a temporary measure, just to weather the recession. The 401(k) plan replaced the pension as the standard of retirement benefits that employers offered, and are most people's standard retirement plan, if they have one at all. That said, when employers stop contributing to employee 401(k) retirement accounts, it makes people wonder about debt relief for their future.
Ben, Acton City - Nov 2, 2009 at 11:05 pm
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That's good. They obviously did a bang up job raising their kids why not let them raise the grandchildren.

Why should women not go to jail for their crimes? Shouldn't we be equal? I thought that was the goal.
Ryan, Broken Arrow - Nov 2, 2009 at 4:37 pm
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Chris, I mentioned that in my post, teen pregnancies. As for incarcerated mothers, as of September 2009 it seems there were ~1300 mothers of small children in Oklahoma prisons. Not all these children will be raised by their grandparents, of course, but some will. I'd guessmost of those children are in the foster system since I know several people who have fostered children of incarcerated women. The sad thing is Oklahoma's incarceration rate of women is twice the national average (131 per 100K of OK population vs. 69 per 100K of US population.)

http://resistancebehindbars.org/node/159
Concerned, Central Oklahoma - Nov 2, 2009 at 2:58 pm
You're connecting the wrong dots guys. These grandparents rearing the kiddos are mostly due to teen pregnancies and drug addicted parents unable and/or unwilling to take care of their kids. I'm sure there are some grandparents taking care of their grands while momma does her time, but I'd bet they're the exception, not the rule.
Chris, Warr Acres - Nov 2, 2009 at 2:46 pm
Combine that high incarceration rate for women, mentioned by stinkerpants, with our high rate of teen pregnancy and it's no wonder 1 in 14 Oklahoma children are raised by one or more grandparent.

How is that covenant marriage pact working for us now? About as well as right to work, low taxes & tort reform are, in my opinion.

I think Oklahoma could make a huge difference in this trend if our pro-birth sentiments were truly and actually pro-life in practice.
Concerned, Central Oklahoma - Nov 2, 2009 at 10:45 am
Let's see--we are number one at putting women in prison, and 80 percent of them are mothers. I dunno--do ya think the fact that we are number one at imprisoning women might have an effect here?
stinkerpants, Oklahoma City - Nov 2, 2009 at 10:16 am

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