Grandparents become parents again

Many children are now taken care of by their grandparents

by the BBC's Liz MacKean

The government has commissioned a study to find out how many grandparents are looking after their grandchildren.

The move follows complaints that grandparents are not being given enough help and support when they are left with the responsibility of rearing children.

Many grandparents across the country have taken over responsibility for bringing up their grandchildren because their own children are unable to cope.

There are no official figures on how many grandparents have been left holding babies.

I think it's a social policy issue that might need to be addressed

Simon Lord, Warwickshire Social Services

The Home Office study is expected to show a significant number of grandparents have become "parents" again.

It is also expected to recommend to recommend that they be given far more help in the struggle to keep their family together.

Maureen Peach became a parent the second time around when her daughter's life went off the rails. She became increasingly dependent on drugs, kept bad company and left her children to fend for themselves.

Maureen, who lives in the Midlands, looks after two-year-old Charlie and his two sisters.

She has had to give up work to care for the children.

"They're my grandchildren. I didn't want to lose contact with them. I didn't want them up growing up thinking their family had deserted them," she told the BBC's Newsnight programme.

Maureen's life has changed dramatically. Her husband has to work 7 days a week to help pay the bills.

She no longer has much in common with her contemporaries and she misses being the doting grandmother.

"I wake them up in the morning, tell them to go to school. I feel like the wicked witch of the west. I'm not nanny anymore who takes them treats. I miss that."

Family breakdowns

No-one knows just how many grandparents are caring for their grandchildren, but family breakdowns, drugs and changing work patterns mean it's happening more often.

Angela Harrison brings up her 10-year-old grandson Josh. Her daughter, like Maureen's, has a history of drug abuse.

Angela says she knows of at least 200 grandparents in a similar position.

"It's very difficult for us as grandparents. Many of us are very hard up financially. The majority of us get no help whatsoever." A lot of grandparents think local authorities could do more to help. They pay foster carers at least 70 pounds a week to take on a child. Why not channel some of this to grandparent carers ?

But Simon Lord, deputy director of social services in Warwickshire, says it's not that simple:

"Social Services are not an income maintenance agency. That's not what we do. I think it's a social policy issue that might need to be addressed."