HUNNEMAN: Raising those grandkids


Good Sunday morning to you. We're in Tucson today, and that means breakfast at the Cracker Barrel .

When I got the job four years ago this weekend, I had no idea what to expect.

Now I can't imagine life without it.

We're in Arizona this weekend to celebrate the fourth birthday of our first grandchild.

Thanks to our son and his wife, we've gotten a crash course in grand parenthood.

Along with great-grandparents, grandparents, other family members and some preschool chums, Alex will celebrate his birthday with his sister Caleigh, who just turned 2, and new brother Eben, who came along five months ago.

Tucson is a bit of a drive from Southwest County, but it's a trip we make often, and when we're not going there, they load up the mini-van and head this way.

The visits are a joy, and we're always sorry, and exhausted, when they end. Raising kids is most certainly a young person's game.

However, there are many grandparents for whom those visits do not end.

In Riverside County, an estimated 18,000 grandparents are responsible for raising their grandkids, said Stephen Geist, program manager for the county's Grandparents Raising Grandchildren task force.

That's double the 9,000 figure the task force cited in 2000.

In 2006, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that an estimated 2.5 million grandparents across America were responsible for the basic needs of one or more grandchildren living with them.

The county's task force was formed in 1998 by then-County Supervisor Jim Venable, whose district was centered in Hemet , a city with a large senior citizen population and a rapidly increasing number of them raising their kids' kids.

"Most of the grandchildren going through this have experienced problems," Geist said. "Many have been removed from their homes because of abuse and neglect."

Taking on child-raising responsibilities can also come out of the blue.

Geist told the story of an area couple who had raised their own kids, and now retired, bought an RV with plans to travel the country.

"They were just about to leave on their first trip when they got a call," Geist said. "They had to go pick up their three grandkids in Virginia."

Several years later, the RV sits unused in the driveway, he said.

The county task force is there to help, providing support programs, legal consultations and even assistance with day care.

"A lot of grandparents are still working and need help paying for day care," Geist said.

The task force holds support group meetings at locations across the county and has two permanent offices, the closest of which is in Hemet.

That office is in the process of moving this month, so if you call them ---- 951-791-3565 ---- be patient.

You can also call the Riverside County Office on Aging ---- 951-867-3800 ---- or visit to get more information.


