ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes census data on grandparent heads of household. Information on African-American grandparents, grandmothers in particular, is the focus of this analysis. The data include a profile of African-American grandparent householders, reasons for the increase in households headed by grandparents, challenges and problems, living arrangements/household characteristics, and implications for practice. African-American children are more likely to live in the home of their grandparents than are white or Hispanic children. In 1993, 12 percent of African-American children lived in the home of their grandparent in comparison to 4 percent for whites and 6 percent for Hispanics. The increased complexity of intergenerational households, along with a variety of social problems, suggests that new strategies must be developed to help these families cope.
