Time Out for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Having taken on the full responsibility of raising a child—or children—many grandparents end up with little or no time for themselves.

To give grandparents and other adult relatives who have taken on a parenting role a break, the Fairfax County Department of Family Services created Kinship Care Respite Days: four times a year, children have a day of fun and activities and their loving parent figures get a well deserved free day to themselves.

In Fairfax County, Va., there are an estimated 3,500 households with grandparents raising grandchildren. Across the nation, over four million children are living in grandparent-headed households.