The assumption of total responsibility for the raising of grandchildren may come fraught with issues, as we saw in the last post.

Often the situation can rise suddenly and unexpectedly, leaving grandparents not only emotionally unprepared for wearing the parenting hat again after maybe many years and ideas of a completely different sort of senectitude, but also dangerously short on extra resources.

According to a 10-year-old study [Fuller-Thompson, E., Minkler M and Driver, D. (1997). A profile of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States. The Gerontologist 37, (3), 406-411] grandparent caregivers are 60% more likely to live in poverty than grandparents who aren't.

It's likely that their home won't have the extra room for kids or that they live in a situation that either doesn't allow children or is no longer as safe for kids as it once was.

There may be health issues on both sides of the equation, with grandparents having theirs and kids coming with a fresh set of their own, especially if there has been drug use or abuse in their history.

The law may not be on the side of the grandparents, either, with issues over guardianship or adoption sometimes sticky and expensive to sort out. It may even be that there will be problems enrolling kids in school, getting medical care and so on, without clear legal status, as informal custodial arrangements do not convey access or authority.

There is help available, however.

Grandchildren in your care qualify for Social Security benefits under certain conditions.

And that's not all. AARP offers a Benefits Quick Link service that can help explain and locate a wide variety of helpful programs: Medicare costs and prescription drugs coverage, Medicaid for children, food stamps, low income home energy assistance, state property tax relief, state children's health programs that cover medical and dental to kids under 18, child-only grants, and more.

AARP also offers general advice and support on legal issues, finances and so on. They even have information on how to cope when when your grandchild's parent is in prison ... when and what to tell, prison visits, etc..

For a PDF from the US government's Administration on Aging on resources for grandparents, click here.

Health care coverage for grandchildren is covered on this Administration for Children site of the Department of Health and Human Services.

You can learn about student aid and grants from the Federal Student Aid programs site here.

If you work for the US Government, or did, here's information on their kinship care policies and benefits.

Here's a US Census Bureau's report on grandparent-maintained families.

And if you're interested in learning more, here's a reading list for grandparents and grandchildren in this situation.

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