When Parenting Becomes a Grandparent's Job

May 26, 2005 — -- The United States is suffering from an epidemic hidden in plain sight.

Some 4.5 million children are being raised by their grandparents, according to the 2000 U.S. Census. In many cases, the children's parents are unwilling or unable to care for them.

Newark, New Jersey's largest city, has one of the highest concentrations of these situations in the nation. Nearly 10 percent of its children are raised by their grandparents.

Tragically, most of these families are living in poverty. "This is like a war zone, this is like Vietnam," said Michael Pressey of the Salvation Army in Newark. "On any given hour, particularly in the evening when the sun goes down, you come in here, it's like Iraq in here."

Even worse, these caregivers have received less support than foster parents. Despite the recent passage of a kinship care bill in New Jersey, the grandparents are often isolated and have inadequate information about the range of support services and benefits available to them.

Yet it seems many would rather struggle to support their kin than see them sent to strangers.

For nearly four years, ABC News "Primetime Live" followed the peaks and valleys in the lives of four of these families. Their stories comprise a one-hour special, "Family Lost, Family Found".

See the embedded links and the related stories to read about their lives.