Susan and Emil Ash are raising their 14-year-old grandson Dresden, and have been since he was six months old.

"I just never anticipated that. The situation came about and I kinda got all mama bear and took him in just cause he deserves a household and to be taken care of like anybody else," said Susan.

What You Need To Know

  • There is a growing trend of grandparents raising their grandchildren

  • Help, services and support is now available to those parenting for a second time

  • The alternative is placing the children in the foster care system

Now a freshman in high school, he spends weekends with his dad, but lives with his grandparents Monday through Friday.

"Keeps me young, keeps me busy. I just thought you raise your kids, you go off to college, and then you experience the empty nest. It was beyond my spectrum of what I thought my life would be," said Susan.

The couple says they're more experienced this time around, yet raising a teen these days is still challenging.

"Especially at my age, because so much has changed and I don't know that I hear and see as well as I used to so I may be missing things, but I feel capable of understanding some of the things he's going through," said Emil.

More than 100,000 kids in the state live with relatives in kinship families.

"Most of these families, they thought they were going to be retired and going off to Florida for the winter, now they're taking care of their grandchild," said Danielle Kielar, social worker, Kinship Caregiver Program, Catholic Charities, said.

Organizations across the state offer support services to people opting to parent a second time around as opposed to placing kids in foster care.

"Reduces the trauma in the child. It gives them better self-esteem and belonging. They don't feel like they're alone 'cause they're living with their grandparent," said Danielle.

Like Dresden, who's grandparents say it's rewarding to watch him grow up.

"Well-adjusted and having opportunities to be all that he can be," said Emil.

"It's just great to see it again. When my children were growing up, I was working full time and now I'm only working part-time so I have a lot more time to interact and enjoy it," said Susan.

The state's Office of Children and Family Services offers a kinship navigator that provides information and referrals.