Grandparents Raising Grandchildren and the Implications for Inheritance

April 18, 2006 Kristine S. Knaplund says that the United States is seeing thousands of grandparents raising their grandchildren because the children's parents are ill, disabled, imprisoned, or otherwise unable to care for them. Congress recognized this phenomenon in 1996 when it directed the Census Bureau "to find out about grandparents who were the primary caregivers for their grandchildren, and if this relationship was temporary or permanent." In 2002, Boston's GrandFamilies House opened to house twenty-six families. In December 2003, Congress passed the American Dream Downpayment Act, which included provisions to create a demonstration program to develop . . .