Quiet Heroes: Grandparents Raising Grandchildren in BC

The journey often begins with a knock at the door or a phone call.

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It’s late, the house is quiet and you’re getting ready to retire when social services knock on your door. Other times it’s a slow unfolding of small clues, worries about your family, and things that don’t quite add up until they do. And then, suddenly, your life shifts course.

A parent can’t be there. A grandchild needs a home. And you—steady, loving, perhaps a bit older and more tired than you used to be—step forward.

Across British Columbia, thousands of grandparents are living this story. They are packing school lunches again, tying shoelaces, attending parent-teacher meetings, budgeting for sports fees, comforting nightmares, navigating teenage moods, and holding family together in ways that few outside their circle ever truly see.

These grandparents are the quiet heroes of our communities.

When Life Asks You to Begin Again

Most grandparents don’t plan on raising children twice. You’ve retired, or soon will be, and you’ve been looking forward to a life with more freedom, fewer responsibilities: Travel, gardening, quiet mornings, coffee with friends.

But when circumstances change—illness, mental health struggles, addiction, separation, loss, or simply the unpredictability of life—many older adults find themselves called back into the most hands-on, heart-demanding role of all: parenthood.

A recent BC study found that over 13,000 children and youth are being raised by grandparents or relatives because their parents cannot. This is not a small number. It’s not an exception. It’s a growing reality woven into the fabric of our province.

Each family’s story is unique. Yet the thread that binds all of them is unconditional, stubbornly hopeful love. Some grandparents take in a child for a short time while adult kids regain their footing. Others raise grandchildren from infancy into adulthood. Some do it alone. Some do it alongside their adult children in multigenerational homes. Indigenous families may see this as a natural extension of kinship and culture—a continuation of teachings passed down through generations.

The Costs and Benefits of Raising Grandkids

Grandparents raising grandchildren often describe the experience as “bittersweet.”

There are beautiful moments: The first time a little one calls your home “my home.” The smell of cookies baked with tiny helpers. The quiet pride of watching a grandchild succeed in school.
The sense of purpose that lights up your days.

But there are complicated moments, too: The financial stress of raising a child on a fixed income. Exhaustion from early mornings and late nights. Loneliness of standing among much younger parents. The worry about your own health and how long you can keep going. And the emotional weight of the circumstances that brought the child to your care.

Many grandparents worry silently because they don’t want to complain or burden friends. If that’s you and you don’t know where to turn, there are resources to help you. There are organizations across BC working quietly but powerfully on your behalf because they know your contribution is essential, valued, and deserving of care.

• The Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Support Line, helping you navigate guardianship, schooling, and legal information.
• Parent Support Services Society of BC, offering support groups that connect you with people who truly understand.
• The Belonging Network, providing trauma-informed parenting resources.
• Indigenous kinship-care programs, honouring cultural teachings and supporting families with community-led guidance.

The Changing Shape of Family in BC

The rise of grandparents raising grandchildren is part of a larger shift happening across British Columbia. Multigenerational households are increasing. Economic pressures are rising. Child-care shortages are deepening. And families—whether by choice or necessity—are finding new ways to hold each other up. This shift affects everything: Housing, health care, education and community planning. Programs for older adults increasingly need to consider those who are also raising children while trying to balance caregiving with aging, mobility, and financial constraints.

As BC’s population continues to age, and as more families rely on kinship care, society must adapt. Not reluctantly, but compassionately.

If you are a grandparent raising a grandchild, here is something many people don’t say enough:

You are extraordinary!

Mathieu Powell

See more articles written by Mathieu HERE.