About one in ten children in the U.S., most living below the poverty line, are currently living with a grandparent.
And out of all the children being cared for primarily by a grandparent, about 25 percent are Latino, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data.
Although Latinos are not the ethnicity with the highest number of children being raised by their grandparents, at least four percent of Hispanic children are most likely to be cared for primarily by a grandparent.
In many cases, the children being cared for primarily by a grandparent also live with one parent. Among Latinos, that number is 66 percent.
The study showed that Latinos make up 20 percent of the grandparent caretakers in the nation. Among the grandparents that are over the age of 50, 10 percent are Hispanic.
The number of children being raised by a grandparent raised rapidly during the recession but the numbers appeared to stabilize in 2009, when the recession officially ended, the report said.
The household income of children being cared by a grandparent is usually lower than average. In the majority of cases, households are making about $36,000 versus the average $48,000 of the children who are not being cared for primarily by a grandparent, the Pew research showed.
While many factors could contribute to depending on the grandparents to take care of the children, many parents in these households showed characteristics suggestive of the need for family assistance.
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http://nbclatino.com/2013/09/05/latinos-make-up-about-1-in-5-of-grandparent-caretakers-study-finds/