AARP in Pennsylvania

AARP Foundation's Benefits QuickLINK - Helps older adults navigate through the maze of public benefit programs.

AARP - Family Caregiving- Caregiver resource center: Miscellaneous links and resources.

American FactFinder - by U.S. Census Bureau - your source for population, housing, economic and geographic information. Add your county and state to retrieve information about Grandparents raising grandchildren.

Creating a Family - A national adoption & foster care education and support nonprofit organization. Information, courses, toolkits, podcasts and other resources aimed at strengthening and inspiring adoptive, foster, and kinship families and the professionals who support them.

COVID-19/Emergency Preparedness Resource Guide for Kinship Families and Grandfamilies - Developed by the Administration for Community Living's Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren.

COVID-19 Fact Sheet for Grandfamilies and Multigenerational Families - Developed by Generations United. 

Developing Rural Relatives As Parents Programming: Promising Practices- A Collection of Practice Wisdom from Across Rural America was written by the University of Maine Center on Aging and funded by The Brookdale Foundation Group. The manual provides Relatives as Parents Programs (RAPPs) with a thorough review of the strengths, needs, and challenges of rural kinship caregivers, as well as practical tips on serving rural grandfamilies.

Federal and State Nursing Home & Assisted Living Regulations - This guide has detailed information for all 50 states about topics like how each state defines assisted living, admission and retention policies, square feet requirements, and so on. [From seniorliving.org]

Generations United Grandfamlies - Information and resources for relative caregiver families and the professionals who work with them.

Grandfacts: State Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children (updated 2021). In Pennsylvania, nearly 260,000 children (8.8 percent of the children in the state) are living in homes where householders are grandparents or other relatives. Over 235,000 grandparents are responsible for their grandchildren in Pennsylvania.

Grandfamilies of Philadelphia: Strengths, Needs, & Supports - a 2021 report from Generations United. Written by Anita Rogers and Bert Hayslip, Jr.

Grandparent's Guide to Helping Students Succeed with Virtual Education: How to assist your grandchildren with remote learning during the pandemic - (from AARP)

Kinship Caregiving Options: Considerations for Caregivers - This publication, developed in partnership with the ABA Center on Children and the Law, Children's Defense Fund, and Generations United, provides a broad, national overview of choices that may be available to caregivers, along with related considerations, to help them make more informed decisions about pathways to pursue.

If You're Raising Grandkids, Get the Support You Need (from NextAvenue)

National Council on Aging Benefits Checkup Links - Information on various benefit programs.

Promising Practices in Encouraging & Supporting Grandparents and Relatives - This publication, a collaboration of the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (N4A) and the Brookdale Foundation, is intended to make the aging network across the nation aware of important and successful Relatives as Parents Programs (RAPPs) operated by Area Agencies on Aging.

Proud Grandparents - Advise on being a grandparent including a section about grandparents raising grandchildren.

Raising the Children of the Opioid Epidemic (Updated-2018, Generations United). The amended report shows that -- overall -- foster care systems are relying more on grandparents and other relatives to care for children when their parents cannot. The report includes recommendations on how to connect grandfamilies to the same supports and services that traditional unrelated foster families receive. --Also see PART 2: "Help for Grandfamilies Impacted by Opioids and Other Substance Use"

Resources for Helping Youth Manage the Effects of Stress and Loss - This is “Northwestern University's Center for Child Trauma Assessment, Services and Interventions" webpage for parents and caregivers. Includes great video, website links, and other material to help parents and other caregivers better understand the impact of child traumatic experiences and ways to support them.

Support for Grandparents Raising their Grandchildren - This guide - from MoneyGeek - connects grandfamilies to financial assistance and living resources at the state, federal, and local levels.

Taking Care of Yourself While Raising Your Grandchildren - This 2021 resource guide is published by RetireGuide, a free web resource dedicated to providing useful information to help older adults.

Zero to Three - "If You Only Knew: A Tool for Grandparent Caregivers"

Reinforcing a Strong Foundation - Equitable Supports for Basic Needs of Grandfamilies - This 2021 State of Grandfamilies Report from Generations United provides updated national and state data on grandfamilies and key recommendations to address inequities and provide critical supports to serve grandfamilies.

Together at the Table: Supporting the Nutrition, Health, and Well-Being of Grandfamilies - 2022 State of Grandfamilies Report from Generations United

Toolkits

Tip Sheets from the GrOW (Grandfamilies Outcome Workgroup): The following five tipsheets (produced 2022-23) are based on results from two national surveys that GrOW conducted with kinship caregivers in 2020 and 2021: 

Toolkits to help children in grandfamilies thrive through connection to family and culture (from Generations United):

Hotlines

  • Child Abuse & Neglect: 1-800-932-0313
  • Domestic Violence: 1-800-799-7233
  • Mental Health: 977-356-5355
  • Suicide Prevention: 1-800-SUICIDE
  • Kin-Connect (hotline for grandfamilies in Pennsylvania): 866-KIN-2111

Contact Us

Matthew Kaplan, Ph.D.
  • Professor, Intergenerational Programs and Aging

Contact Us

Matthew Kaplan, Ph.D.
  • Professor, Intergenerational Programs and Aging