The financial strain of raising grandchildren
Most people reaching retirement age do not anticipate — or budget — for raising a child. They have raised their children, and, with any luck, have put away a nest egg in anticipation of those golden years.
But then, for reasons specific to the family, some grandparents find themselves raising their grandchildren.
In a Sunday report from Eagle staff writer Eddie Trizzino, we learned of a program that helps families in such a situation.
Linda Mitchell, of Butler, shared her experience. She is 66 and her husband is 70. They are raising their two grandsons.
Her 5-year-old grandson still constantly asks her to take him and his 2-year-old brother to swim at Alameda Waterpark — a place they visited many times during the summer.
Mitchell said the pool passes she bought this summer were reimbursed by the Caregiver Support Program administered by the Butler County Area Agency on Aging.
As the legal caretaker of her two grandsons, any financial help she can get in raising them is appreciated.
“You keep your receipts with your items on it, you list it on your form, sign receipts,” she said. “At the end of the month you mail it in, and shortly after that, you get a reimbursement check in the mail.”
The program currently is helping only eight families in the county. Many families in this situation do not qualify, due to age restrictions.
Sarah Pierwsza, clinical supervisor at the county Area Agency on Aging, said eight people in Butler County are enrolled in the program. The local Agency on Aging distributes money from the Pennsylvania Department of Aging, which reimburses certain caretaker costs for people with legal guardianship over children under 18 years old or people above 60 years old with “functional deficits.”
And the caretaker must be 55 or older.
A Penn State study found 88,000 grandparents were raising their grandchildren in Pennsylvania in 2019. That’s 88,000 people who planned for a retirement for two, or may be relying on Social Security to meet their financial needs.
According to information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 2017, the cost of raising a child from birth to 18 years old is $233,610. And that’s just the average. And those numbers are pre-inflation.
The decision of a grandparent to raise their grandchildren in whatever circumstance they find themselves in is an easy one. Finding the energy may be difficult, and understanding a younger generation may be perplexing.
But thankfully, there is help.
— RJ
