If you’re a grandparent raising your grandchildren, you’re not alone.
In fact, the number of grandparents serving as primary caregivers to their grandchildren is on the rise in Northern Kentucky. In 2012, there were 100 grandparents in the region raising their grandchildren, said Janet Stickels, Northern Kentucky Area Development District human services specialist. This year, there are close to 200.
“The number has clearly been increasing,” said Jenelen Dulemba, director of PrimeWise ““ St. Elizabeth Healthcare’s free membership program for older adults. “With the heroin epidemic, it’s escalated even more.”
The reason most children raised by their grandparents aren’t raised by their parents is because their parents are unable to do so, Dulemba said, often because of drug abuse, incarceration, or child neglect and abuse.
“I think sometimes grandparents who are raising their grandchildren feel like they’re alone and unusual, and that maybe, in some respects, they’re a failure because their children can’t raise their own children,” she said. “If there’s a way for those grandparents to learn, though, that they’re not alone and there are people with similar challenges, it’s a bit of a burden lifted.”
St. Elizabeth Healthcare will host a Grandparents Class on Tuesday, October 27, 6:30 ““ 8:30 p.m. The class is for grandparents caring for their grandchildren to update them on all of the latest child care developments. Topics include bathing, feeding, car safety, SIDS and more.
