1. American Indian/Alaskan Native grandparents raising grandchildren: findings from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey.
- Author
-
Fuller-Thomson E and Minkler M
- Subjects
- Aged, Alaska, Censuses, Child, Child Care, Child, Preschool, Female, Health Services Accessibility, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Poverty statistics & numerical data, Prevalence, Social Welfare ethnology, Social Welfare statistics & numerical data, Socioeconomic Factors, United States, Child Rearing ethnology, Family ethnology, Indians, North American statistics & numerical data, Intergenerational Relations ethnology, Inuit statistics & numerical data, Poverty ethnology
- Abstract
This article documents the prevalence and national profile of American Indian/Alaskan Native (AI/AN) grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, based on data from the American Community Survey/Census 2000 Supplementary Survey. In 2000 there were estimated to be nearly 53,000 AI/AN grandparent caregivers age 45 and older in the United States. Almost half of the caregiving grandparents had been raising a grandchild for five years or longer. The findings reveal a portrait of grandparents committed to raising their grandchildren despite the fact that many were living in extreme poverty, with ill health, and with limited resources and services. One-third of grandparent caregivers were living below the poverty line, and only one-quarter of these were receiving public assistance. Even when compared with their noncaregiving AI/AN peers, grandparents raising grandchildren were disproportionately female, poor, living with a functional disability, and living in overcrowded conditions. Implications for social work practice are presented and recommendations for policy and research are discussed.
- Published
- 2005
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