The safety net for Americans is something we read a lot about in terms of government programs, but there is another safety net closer to home.
Families provide the safety net for each other for a variety of reasons, including lack of public services. Family members, despite popular belief, provide the majority of the care for one another in practical matters and emotional support. One of the most supportive members of the family is grandparents, according to a collaborative longitudinal research study published last April in The Journal of Family Issues covering the years 1998-2008 by Ye Luo, Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Clemson University.
More than 60 percent of grandparents provide day care for a grandchild and 70 percent of those did it for over two years. Because grandparents usually have fewer limitations and more economic resources they were more likely to continue to care for their grandchildren. According to the study, African American and Hispanic grandparents were more likely than whites to start and continue care in the home for grandchildren.
In the decade long analysis based on interviews of 13,614 grandparents ages 50 and older, the researchers collected data at two year intervals.
"We took people who didn't live with their grandchildren and looked at how many hours of care they provide," says sociologist Linda Waite, a co-author of the study. For some people that might mean "babysitting for going out. For sure, it's day care for some people,” in an interview in USA Today.
The findings released by the University of Chicago in coordination with Grandparents Day include:
•59% have at least one grandchild within 50 miles; 39% have one more than 500 miles away;
•62% have provided financial support to grandchildren in the past five years, averaging $8,289, primarily for investments and education;
•74% babysit or provide care weekly.
They also determined grandparents with more education and higher incomes are more likely to provide babysitting. Providing care was not an indicator for the level on grandparent involvement because some grandchildren might been teenagers or young adults and do not need that kind of care-giving. Also, some grandparents could be in poor health or physically unable to care for grandchildren or live too far away to provide a direct level of care.
USA reported another survey:
Another survey of a nationally representative sample of 1,008 grandparents ages 45 and older, out today, suggests similar findings. The online research was done in April for the MetLife Mature Market Institute and the nonprofit Generations United, an intergenerational policy group.
Donna Butts, executive director of Generations United, in Washington, D.C., says grandparents who provide care do so because "they want to, and because of the economy."
"Grandparents are being asked to help financially and relieve the financial burden of child care, by taking care of their grandchildren," she says. "They have a tendency to be healthier and want to be involved in their grandchildren's lives. They're not as interested in moving away from their families. If anything, they would move to be closer to their grandchildren."
From my personal experience, I do not live near my grandchild, but he lives within driving distance. Still, I have considered moving, but the housing crisis and diminished equity has made it economically impossible to sell the house I bought in a rural community in 2005. I only have one grandchild, and I had almost given up ever having any, then he was born. He is one of the most wonderful gifts in my life, and I am fortunate that my son sends me pictures all the time of him. Mobile phone picture messages are a great invention for grandparents.
As the study revealed, whether grandparents live near or far, they want to be an important part of their grandchildren’s lives both spiritually and economically.