Grandparents Helping Grandparents Help the Grandkids (continued)

"The fact that we're young grandparents, and we're interested and interesting, and we want to make the lives better for our children and grandchildren and those who don't have as much as we have," she said. "At the same time, we're not too old to learn about finances, about the new psychologies."

She may be on to something. The 2000 census showed that more than six million children - more than 412,000 in New York State alone - live in homes headed by grandparents. Many of those grandparents had expected to go gently into their old age without having to worry about PTA meetings or orthodontics. And they didn't plan to use their Social Security checks to feed grandchildren. Nearly 20 percent of these families live below the poverty line.

Gerard Wallace, a lawyer and director of the Grandparent Caregiver Law Center at Hunter College in New York, says grandparents do not have the right to include their grandchildren on their health insurance policies, even if the grandchildren live with them, unless the grandparents become their legal guardians.

"In most states they don't have any rights, even if they're raising the child," said Mr. Wallace, who was also a co-founder of the National Committee of Grandparents for Children's Rights, an advocacy group.

Some state programs can help grandparents who raise grandchildren, and there is a federal-state program, called Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, that offers "child only" grants to grandparents who are care providers. But the amounts available through that program are not big: in New York, grandparents get $350 a month for the first child and $150 for each additional child. In Ohio, the amounts are $250 and $75.

If grandparents qualify to become foster parents, they can receive about $650 a month in New York for the first child, and up to $1,350 for a child with special needs, Mr. Wallace said. But only one child in four actually receives the grant, he said, because families do not want to deal with public assistance or do not know about it.

Mr. Terman Felenstein's group plans to address financial issues for grandparents, and to raise money for grandparents in need. To join the group, each person contributed $2,500 in seed money, which has been invested in various stocks. Members pay $200 in monthly dues. Profits are donated to groups like the Make-a-Wish Foundation, to help grandparents caring for children with life-threatening illnesses.

That is something that resonates with Diane Steiner, a former 008 member with five grandchildren and seven stepgrandchildren. "I want to be able to help educate other grandparents who could be in devastating family crises, as I was," said Ms. Steiner, whose daughter died of a brain tumor in January. She said grandparents faced different issues involving their grandchildren depending on whether their own child was married, divorced or deceased.

As a lawyer - she is a partner at Sheresky Aronson & Mayefsky in New York - Ms. Steiner has witnessed many of the problems wrought by divorce and grandparent litigation. "The more education I can get about the stock market, insurance, financial investing, family issues, legal issues, protection for children," she said, "the more information I'm able to pass on to others and become an advocate for their needs."

Grandparents are starting to draw more attention as consumers. After all, adults 50 and older control more than 77 percent of the nation's assets, according to the AARP.

"Grandparents are really playing an important role in our society," said Christine Crosby, the publisher and editor of Grand magazine, which is aimed at grandparents aged 45 to 65 and made its debut last month. "This is the largest, fastest-growing and the wealthiest segment of our society. Boomers are now becoming grandparents; the average age first-time age of a grandparent is 47. There's always been an image of Grandma and Grandpa as these old people - who wants to identify with that?"

Ms. Crosby, 59, of St. Petersburg, Fla., has three grandchildren and one great-grandchild. The actor Billy Crystal and the journalist Cokie Roberts - grandparents both - graced the covers of the magazine's first two issues. In addition to offering feature articles, book reviews and recipes, the magazine devotes space to financial awareness.

"Let's say you want to transfer your wealth to your grandchildren because your kids are out of the picture," Ms. Crosby said. "How do you do that properly so you don't end up paying it all in taxes? Most grandparents don't know how to do that, so we want to teach them."

Ms. Terman Felenstein seconds that notion. Her group "is about helping other people have some joy in their lives," she said.

"There are some kids who have nothing," she added. "We're put on this earth supposedly to help others, and we're helping ourselves, too."

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