Mexican American Grandparents Raising Grandchildren: Findings from the Census 2000 American Community Survey

Using nationally representative data from the Census 2000 Supplementary Survey/ American Community Survey, this article documents the profile of the estimated 177,000 Mexican American grandparents aged 45 and older who were raising their grandchildren in 2000. One in 20 Mexican Americans was raising a grandchild, a proportion four times higher than that of non-Hispanic Whites. When compared with their non-caregiving Mexican American peers, grandparent caregivers had higher rates of poverty (30% vs. 15%) and overcrowding (38% vs. 19%). Only a small minority of grandparent caregivers living in poverty used public assistance or food stamps. Further, our hypothesis that grandparents raising grandchildren were less acculturated than noncaregivers was not supported by the data. Implications for social work practice, policy, and research are presented.