How bureaucratic rules make life tough for grandparents who raise grandchildren. 

All over the United States, grandparents are raising their grandchildren and parenting second families in ways they never imagined. For these grandparents, the Norman Rockwell pictures of family and grandparenting are no more than illusions. 

In 2000, the U.S. Bureau of the Census reported that  5,602,172 Grandparents headed homes with children under age 18 They also reported that 2,354,121 of those homes had no parent present and that the grandparents had sole responsibility for parenting..

The challenges facing these families are immense and the programs that could, and should, help them often make a difficult situation impossible. These families do qualify for help but it is a tough process getting it. It truly is "a tangled web" that the grandparents must negotiate to find assistance. 

The AARP Public Policy Institute (PPI) report, A Tangled Web: Public Benefits, Grandparents, and Grandchildren, provides an in-depth look at how our existing public benefit programs help, or fail to help, the grandparent-headed family. It examines seven of the largest public benefit programs that help grandparents take care of grandchildren: 

Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) 
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) 
Medicaid 
Food Stamps 
Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) 
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) 
Head Start 

The researchers found that the programs have evolved over many years, and that the requirements for each have been developed piecemeal, with little regard for the workings of the other programs. 

For example, a grandchild who is eligible for the Head Start program may not qualify for the AFDC program, but a child who is eligible for the AFDC program is automatically eligible for Head Start. 

They also found that eligibility for many of the programs is automatically linked to Aid to Families with Dependent Children. By obtaining AFDC for a grandchild, a grandparent smoothes the way for the child to participate in Medicaid, WIC and Head Start. 

Other findings include: 

Eligibility for all the programs depends on the household's income being less than a specified percentage of the federal poverty level ($10,030 for a family of two in 1995). But the seven programs use seven different percentage thresholds. In addition, they determine household income in seven different ways. 
The definition of household (who is included in a household and whether that individual's income and resources are deemed available to the child) differs in all programs. 

A grandparent generally can elect not to be part of the assistance unit and can apply for benefits on behalf of the grandchild only. Under the Food Stamp Program, however, it is impossible for a grandparent to obtain benefits for a child only. 

The programs of the greatest use to grandparents are entitlements. All who apply, and meet the eligibility requirements, are entitled to benefits. More children are eligible for the WIC program and the Head Start program than are able to participate in them. 

In the United States today, the number of children being cared for by grandparents continues to grow. Many grandparents who are caring for a grandchild are unable to meet the grandchild's needs for food, shelter and medical care without help from public benefit programs. But eligibility requirements for these programs are complex and often inconsistent, so obtaining benefits is a daunting task for grandparents. 

Editor's note: Legislation pending in Congress may make the information in this article obsolete. However, the changes being proposed will not make it easier for grandparents to obtain public benefits for their grandchildren.