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Welfare reform squeezes grandparent caregivers
December 8, 1996Web posted at: 9:20 p.m. EST
From Correspondent Rusty Dornin
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- For the children of many broken homes, grandparents are often the critical safety net. And some of those caregivers are often forced to accept welfare to support the kids.
Under recently enacted welfare changes, grandparents -- along with other recipients -- will be expected to go back to work.
Consider Willa Jones, a grandmother who planned to retire at age 55. But when her daughter was unable to care for five children, Jones took over. Now, at 58, she works as a full-time parent.
She didn't go looking for welfare. "I didn't want them to give me any money," Jones said. "I was working. But I needed someone to pay child care for me, and there was none available."
Her grandchildren came first, so Jones quit her job and began taking welfare. Now, under the new welfare bill, Jones will be forced to go out and find a job in the next two years -- or else lose her benefits.
"Who's going to employ an old lady at 58 years old? It just doesn't work anymore," said Jones.
In the United States, nearly 3.5 million children from broken homes are cared for by grandparents.
In California, 75 percent of those grandparents are on welfare. Many stepped in to keep the families together.
Now, if Lois Kincy can't find a job, her grandchildren could end up in someone else's foster home.
"If you have to sponsor somebody, why not a person like me who loves the children? Who are my blood? Who can give them the personal attention, guidance and care?" Kincy said.
A California official agrees.
"Ultimately it is less costly to have grandparents in charge of kids than it is to have foster parents at the state and county expense," said John Kehoe of the California Commission on Aging.
Kincy said, "There should be a separate category for grandparents and relatives of caregivers because these are not our children, there are really our foster children."
Like other aspects of the welfare reform bill, no one knows exactly how the work rule will end up affecting grandparents.
"What do we do?" Jones asked. "We do the best that we can."
Related stories:
- Alcoholics, advocates wary of new welfare law - September 30, 1996
- Welfare clients get private sector helping hand - September 29, 1996
- Clinton signs historic welfare legislation - August 22, 1996
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