Seniors raising their grandkids get a new boost

When Dorothy Chase watches out for 12-year-old Kania, it's not with the adoring gaze of a grandmother, but the hawklike stare of a first-time mother. Every day at 2:05 p.m., she peers out her living-room window as Kania steps off the bus.

The same goes for 9-year-old Michael. "I don't let him out of my sight," says Dorothy's husband, Sylvester.

After raising four children in the Boston area, Mr. and Mrs. Chase, who will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary this year, found themselves as child-rearers again when Michael's and Kania's parents were unable to care for them a decade ago.

They're part of a growing number of grandparents filling the void left by parents incapacitated by drug abuse, poverty, or mental instability. And they're changing the face of the American family.

Challenges for this demo- graphic remain formidable, but the nation has begun to assist their efforts, especially when it comes to housing. Indeed, the Grandfamilies House where the Chases live is now set to become a national model.

When it opened eight years ago, the Grandfamilies House was a social experiment, the nation's first public-housing project designed for grandparents raising their grandchildren. Since then, 32 states have contacted the housing complex, but only a handful of similar models have emerged.

But in December, Congress approved funding for such "grandfamilies" after portions of the Legacy (Living Equitably: Grandparents Aiding Children and Youth) bill was signed by President Bush in 2003 - to expand on the concept, and incorporate the lessons learned, in Boston.

At least 20 communities across the country are considering such housing complexes, says Donna Butts, the executive director of Generations United, a Washington group that promotes intergenerational relations. "There has been great progress in recognizing the role grandparents play in raising grandchildren," says Ms. Butts. "Children deserve the support of loving families, even when their [immediate] families are not there."

The missing generation in many households traces back to the AIDS epidemic, tougher drug laws, and changes in welfare that some say have made it more difficult for single parents to support their children, says Carrie Jefferson Smith, an associate professor of social work at Syracuse University. The problem crosses all race and class lines, but it disproportionately affects African-Americans.

Nearly 4 million children live in households headed by grandparents, according to 2003 data released by the US Census Bureau. That figure increased 30 percent from 1990 to 2000, the census found.

The challenges faced by both grandparent and grandchild are complex, though by no means uniform. Many elderly caregivers live on fixed incomes. Others may struggle to keep up with young ones. Many children, meanwhile, deal with loss or abandonment. In some cases, the "generation gap" can be daunting.

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