The amount of money, 4 billion dollars annualy is being saved because of Grandparents taking care of these children is ridiculous. Although it's good for children in many, many ways to have their Grandparents raise them, it is very hard for elderly people to care for all of this and for themselves as well. Add behavioral and psychological issues and it makes it almost impossible. Then why, is this not recognized as a job where Social Security-related income is made available? Grandparemts should NOT have to worry about housing, food, clothing, and every day expenses or even think twice about them. We need change and we need it now! There should be no question about it. 

Back in the early 1990s, the crack- cocaine epidemic started it, now in 2021, more than a few years into the opioid Heroin epidemic, we have to worry that our Social Security income will be considered making too much money to get necessary benefits for these children. It's unfortunate that this is happening, and though there are many programs for these innocent children,  there is nothing to help these Grandparents get ahead of this game monetarily,  and we already know how seniors are treated in America, so this needs to be examined and fixed.

As of 2000, nearly 2.4 million Grandparents claimed primary responsibility for these grandchildren. Currently in the United States, it is estimated that 6.5 million children currently live with at least one grandparent (Kreider,2004) accounting for approximately 9% of all children nationally and 56% of them not living with their parents.

We need to change this now!