How Congress can fight hunger and support America’s ‘grandfamilies’

Alice Carter knows hunger hurts. An unemployed grandmother in Cheyenne, Wyo., she stepped in to raise her two grandchildren on her own without help. She told me recently about a time when she only had oranges someone had given her to feed them. Not just for one meal. But for several meals, and for days on end. 

Carter is one of more than 25 million people in the United States who last month reported experiencing food insecurity — meaning they either sometimes or often did not have enough to eat.

Her story is far too common, and an example of a deeply troubling trend in our nation’s losing battle against hunger. More than 2.5 million children in the United States are being raised in “grandfamilies,” or households where the primary caregivers are not parents. Almost by default, these families — often led by grandparents, but also by aunts and uncles, cousins or even close family friends — need special care and additional support. But a disproportionate number of them are going hungry. With more than 250,000 children in the United States losing a parent or primary caregiver to COVID-19, the number of grandfamilies in our country will continue to increase. We must commit to ensuring that hunger does not grow with them. 

My organization, Generations United, released our annual State of Grandfamilies report this month. This year’s report is focused exclusively on how and why hunger and grandfamilies are becoming so intertwined. Unfortunately, we had good reason for such focus. One-quarter of grandparent-headed households experienced food insecurity in 2019-2020, more than twice the national rate. Rates of food insecurity among older (age 60+) grandparent-headed households with grandchildren and no parents are three times higher than similar households with no children. 

Let me be clear: Grandfamilies are the best option for children who can’t be raised by their parents. Research shows that, compared to children in foster care with non-relatives, children raised by relatives have better mental and behavioral health outcomes, greater stability and deeper roots. They feel loved. 

Why, then, do so many grandfamilies not have enough to eat? Our report found that often it’s because the caregivers stepped into this role unexpectedly and did not plan for the cost of raising a child on top of their own medication or rent. Additionally, more than half of grandfamilies are in southern states, where rates of food insecurity are highest, and a large number reside in rural areas where food sources and transportation options can be scarce. Grandfamilies are also disproportionately people of color who suffer adverse health outcomes, including food insecurity, from systemic racism and discrimination. 

In September, the Biden administration released the first-ever national strategy to address hunger, with a goal of completely eliminating it within a decade. We endorse a number of recommendations in that report — from expanding free school meals to reinstituting the more generous Child Tax Credit — that would help all families avoid the pitfalls of hunger. We were particularly pleased to see report recommendations tailored specifically to grandfamilies and children in “kinship care,” such as improving outreach to grandparents raising grandchildren to maximize enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits — less than half of grandparent-headed households that are eligible participate in SNAP (link) — and increasing funding for nutrition programs under the Older Americans Act. 

Given the urgent and unique challenges grandfamilies face, we need to make changes now. Expanding “kinship navigator” programs would connect more grandfamilies to food and nutrition supports, such as the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), that they might not know about or have trouble accessing. The U.S. Department of Agriculture and state health agencies should prioritize making more grandfamilies eligible for these supports by creating a child-only SNAP benefit based on the needs of the child and not household income, and by ensuring automatic access to free school meals. Making sure outreach programs’ materials meet diversity, equity and inclusion standards would maximize their effect for those most in need.

As families across America prepare to enjoy their Thanksgiving bounties, it is incumbent upon all of us to remember the children whose grandparents can only afford to feed them oranges off someone else’s plate, if at all. A grandparent or other close relative who steps up to raise a child when a parent is unable to do so represents the best of humanity. We owe them our best in return, and it starts with ensuring that every grandfamily can put enough food on the table to help children grow and thrive.

Donna Butts is the executive director of Generations United. Twitter: @GensUnited.