Grandparents play an expanded role in child rearing

America is swiftly becoming a granny state. More fit and involved than in earlier decades, today’s grandparents are in many cases shunning retirement homes and stepping in more than ever to raise grandchildren while their young adult children struggle in the weak economy. The newer grandparents are mainly baby boomers who are still working, with greater disposable income. Now making up 1 in 4 adults, grandparents as a demographic are growing at twice the rate of the overall population and sticking close to family—if their grandkids aren’t already living with them. Grandparents in recent decades have often filled in for absent parents who were ill or battled addiction, or who were sent to prison. The latest trend of grandparent involvement, reflected in census figures released today, is now being driven also by the economy and the graying U.S. population, including the 78 million boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, who began turning 65 this year. Currently about 5.8 million children, or nearly 8% of all children, are living with grandparents identified as the head of household, according to 50-state census data released today. That’s up from 4.5 million, or 6.3%, who lived in such households in 2000. Much of the increase in grandparent caregivers occurred later in the decade, after the recession eliminated jobs for many younger people, surveys indicate. The 8% share of children now living with grandparents is the largest in at least 40 years—and it is believed to be the largest share ever, the population experts say. In all, there are 62.8 million grandparents in the U.S., the most ever. They are projected to make up roughly 1 in 3 adults by 2020.