Support for grandparents raising grandkids in Te Awamutu

The first meeting was a chance for the grandparents to meet others in the same situation, share morning tea and voice their complex emotions and thoughts.

There's a group of people in Te Awamutu crying out for help — grandparents raising their grandchildren.

It's a challenging and complex job that some grandparents find themselves taking on.

A new monthly support group for grandparents adjusting to the role has been formed by Te Awamutu women Ruth Gilling, Rangitaia Crowley and Pat Schwass.

Ruth, who is the family worker at St Andrews Presbyterian Church, says the first meeting revealed the "tip of the iceberg".

"The group is long overdue and the issue is far more widespread than we realised in Te Awamutu," she says.

Four grandparents, who were all women, attended the first meeting after seeing a brief in the Te Awamutu Courier.

It was a chance for the women to have morning tea and voice their complex emotions and thoughts.

One grandmother was in her 80s and said taking care of her grandchild was an exhausting and lonely job.

"I'm too old to be coping with what I'm coping with," she said.

"Sometimes it feels like there's no one else out there."

Another grandmother said she felt angry with her son for leaving her in the challenging situation.

One wanted to talk about technology, asking, "what age do you let your grandchild have an iPhone?"

And then there are the financial problems.

A grandparent might be long-retired and relying on a pension. They may struggle to pay for school uniforms and put food on the table.

Many grandparents don't know their rights and what help they're entitled to.

And that's where the Te Awamutu group steps in.

It aims to provide support and educate grandparents about their rights.

The group meets at 9.30am on the second Monday of each month.

Venues alternate between the Māori Women's Welfare League and St Andrews Presbyterian Church.

The group hopes to connect with Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Trust NZ.

The organisation supports around 4100 grandparents in New Zealand. About 14 per cent of its members' families live in the Waikato.

Chief executive Kate Bundle said children go into grandparent care for a range of reasons including parents' drug or substance abuse, family breakdown, family violence, neglect, mental illness, imprisonment, or death of one or both parents.

"The most predominant reason is the parents' drug or substance abuse, with 85 per cent citing methamphetamine use as the drug causing the family breakdown."

She said around two-thirds of the trust's registered grandparents are co-parenting. The rest are single.

The average age of grandparent caregivers is 55-59.

"We also have young grandparents in their early 40s as well as 80 plus years including great-grandparents raising their moko fulltime."

Kate said about half of the single grandparents earn less than $30k a year and 98 per cent of single grandparents are female.

The group meets at the Māori Women's Welfare League, Lyon Street, Kihikihi, on Monday, April 9 at 9.30am.