Grandparents Step Up: Support Group Launched Amid Opioid Epidemic

In the wake of the opioid crisis, more than 2.5 million grandparents across the United States are raising their grandchildren, as reported by Congress. A new local support group is aiming to help caregivers navigate the challenges they face.

“I’ve actually wanted this program for a long time,” Robbie Schmidt said. She adopted her two sons in 2019 and recently joined the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group at St. John's United Church of Christ in Southport.

Dan Tucker, a senior pastor at St. John’s and a fellow member of the group, took custody of his grandson when he was just eight weeks old. “I was totally unprepared. My grandson went through a very traumatic first eight weeks of his life. It was totally impossible for him to be able to return to his mother and his father,” Tucker said.

The group allows grandparents like Schmidt and Tucker to share their stories and gain support. “There really isn’t anything like this going on to draw grandparents together, share our stories, support one another,” Tucker noted.

Tucker has found that many of the grandparents raising grandchildren are in that position because of choices their adult children have made. “Because in large part, the increase of drug abuse by our adult children, by the increase in incarceration, by our children not wanting to raise their own children,” Tucker said.

According to the National Advisory Council to Support Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, the opioid crisis is a major factor in the growing number of grandparents raising their grand kids. “Both of our boys' Mom and Dad were very involved in drugs and alcohol, and right now, we don't even know where their father is, and were concerned. Luckily, their mom is doing a tremendous job. She's turned her life around and is doing really well. So the boys see her on a regular basis. They talk. They have a good relationship, and I'm very happy for that,” Schmidt said.

The support group aims to eventually help more than just the grandparents. They want to hire a social worker to meet with the grandchildren as well. “My boys need someone else to talk to about being parented by old folks. We are old and we are different,” Schmidt said.

The group meets on the second Saturday of each month. The next meeting is scheduled for May 10 from 10 to 11 a.m. at St. John's United Church of Christ.