Raising debt

L: Betty Cornelius sorts through photos of her granddaughter. R: Wavey Bennet spends an afternoon with husband Eli and granddaughter Brianna.

Parenting: it’s a club few grandparents are prepared to join and yet, every year, more seniors are raising a second family.

According to Statistics Canada, more than 48,000 children under the age of 20 lived with their grandparents in 2011. At one time, the government covered the cost of those living arrangements. Today, the financial burden is being born almost exclusively by the grandparents themselves. The situation has grandparents asking how they’re supposed to financially plan for the unexpected.