The numbers are rising, but today, there are 1.5 million grandparents nationwide who are raising their grandchildren.
64-year-old Patsy Parker of Anchorage, Alaska took things a bit further: she adopted her two grandsons, Thomas and Jon, thereby saving them from a home life of emotional abuse, domestic violence and substance addiction.
Not that parenting all over again is easy. Grandparents face plenty of challenges when raising their grandchildren: financially, mentally and physically. But if they succeed in tackling these challenges, they just might help form one, big, happy grandfamily...
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Piece Description
The numbers are rising, but today, there are 1.5 million grandparents nationwide who are raising their grandchildren. 64-year-old Patsy Parker of Anchorage, Alaska took things a bit further: she adopted her two grandsons, Thomas and Jon, thereby saving them from a home life of emotional abuse, domestic violence and substance addiction. Not that parenting all over again is easy. Grandparents face plenty of challenges when raising their grandchildren: financially, mentally and physically. But if they succeed in tackling these challenges, they just might help form one, big, happy grandfamily...
Broadcast History
A slightly longer version of this story originally aired on "AK," the weekly public affairs show on the Alaska Public Radio Network, on January 26th, 2008.
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