Tennessee Grandparenting Issues: A Survey of AARP Members

More than 126,000 children in Tennessee are living in households headed by grandparents or other relatives, with many of these relatives serving as primary caregivers. In Tennessee, 71 percent of AARP members have grandchildren, and 6 percent have grandchildren or other kin's children living in their homes; about half of these latter members are the children's primary caregivers.

The majority of these primary caregivers...

• believe it is very important (62%) or somewhat important (20%) for people raising grandchildren or kin's children to have access to affordable child care services like day care or before and after school care
• say it is very (65%) or somewhat important (19%) for AARP to provide information on resources and services for people raising grandchildren and kin's children

If Tennessee members with grandchildren were to become a primary caregiver for their grandchildren or kin's children, the issues they most want to receive information on are health care and insurance coverage for children (49%), financial resources (48%) and legal issues (47%).

This mail survey of 1,478 AARP Tennessee members was conducted from May 7 through June 10, 2003. The report was prepared by Joanne Binette and David Cicero, both of AARP Knowledge Management. For further information, please, contact Joanne Binette at 202-434-6303. (25 pages)