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Nationally, 4.5 million children are living in grandparent headed households. An additional 1.5 million children are living in households headed by other relatives.

In Arizona, more than 96,000 children are living in grandparent headed households, plus more than 36,700 children in the state are living in households headed by other relatives.

In another startling statistic from the U.S. Census 2000 count, Arizona's numbers represent a 73.8 percent increase from the 1990 census, which ranks the state fourth in the country for an increase in grandparent headed households.

Michele Lytle

Lytle is an instructional specialist with The University of Arizona Coconino County Cooperative Extension. She approached her supervisor, Beth Tucker, county extension director, and told her that there were a lot of grandparents in Coconino County that were raising their grandchildren, and they were not getting the help they needed or didn't know where to turn for help.

"I remember the first time Michele talked to me about grandparents raising grandchildren, I too was excited, but I needed to know how many people this involved," Tucker said. So Lytle with the assistance of Sherry Betts, a family life extension specialist, made an assessment by county of grandparent households.

According the 2000 census, there were 3,059 grandparents in Coconino County living in households with one or more of their grandchildren under the age of 18. Of those grandparents, 1,670 were directly responsible for the care of those grandchildren.

That information was enough to start the ball rolling.

"People come into this for a variety of reasons, some positive, some negative. Some grandparents are raising grandchildren to help their son or daughter go to college to get a better education or to help parents who are getting back on their feet financially," Tucker said.

Researchers, with information from the U.S. Bureau of Census, have identified several complex and multifaceted reasons why the number of grandparent headed households is growing.

• High mortality of men
• Increase of drug use among parents
• Teen pregnancy
• Divorce
• Rapid rise of single-parent households
• Mental and physical illnesses
• Crime and incarceration of parents
• Child abuse and neglect
• Rising cost of housing

In 2002, the cooperative extension brought together 15 people, mostly agency representatives, to discuss the issue, identify critical needs, and develop a vision to provide better services for kin givers in northern Arizona.

"Eleven of those 15 people at the table were raising grandchildren," Tucker said. "Even their co-workers didn't know about it. There is a hesitancy among grandparents to talk about raising their grandchildren because it implies that you failed as a parent."

Out of that meeting, Kinship Kare of Northern Arizona was established.

"The KKONA program is truly in line with the mission of the cooperative extension," Tucker said. "The mission is to provide education, advocacy, and support. KKONA provides strong educational programs to help grandparents get what they need to make their grandchildren's lives better."