The Healthy Grandparents Program was established at Augusta University’s College of Nursing in January of 1999 to provide physical, emotional, and social support to grandparents and great-grandparents raising their grandchildren ages 0-17 living in parent-absent homes. The primary goal of the program is to provide a variety of support services to grandparent caregivers, while assisting them to provide their grandchildren with a stable and supportive home environment without having to enter and/or re-enter the formal foster care system.
Services are designed to increase families’ access to resources, increase family empowerment and independence, and promote stability and permanency in children’s lives while maintaining their family ties and culture. Grandparent caregivers have demonstrated a significant need for social/peer support, mental and physical health care, child development education, child custody/adoption assistance, access to information and resources, respite care, and advocacy.
Services
Family Characteristics
Reason In Grandparent’s Care
Data On Families Served By The Program
Major Hardships For Grandparent Caregivers
National/State Statistics
According to 2016 census estimates, nearly 900,000 children across the U.S. are being raised by their grandparents and neither parents living in the home. Almost 60% of those grandparents are still in the workforce and 40% of them have provided care for their grandchildren for more than 5 years. In Georgia alone, over 41,000 grandparents are raising their grandchildren with neither parent present in the home. In 2012, Georgia had the 6th largest number of grandparents living with their grandchildren in the country. In Richmond and Columbia Counties, there are over 4,700 grandparents responsible for their grandchildren’s care. Almost 2,000 of those grandparents are raising their grandchildren without either parent present in the home and 27% have been raising their grandchildren for more than 5 years.
Funding
Accomplishments/ Advocacy Efforts
