Warning: This article discusses drug use and family violence Kelly* is one of an estimated 10,000 grandparents raising 16,000 grandchildren fulltime in New Zealand. She shares her story of heartbreak, hope and unconditional love as she comes to terms with a future where nothing is certain. Kelly was staying with a friend during Labour weekend last year when her 7-year-old grandson, George, called.
“Hey Nana,” he said, “Mum’s just been arrested.” It’s a phone call that would floor most grandparents , but Kelly is not most grandparents. She got as much information as she could from George, then asked him to pass the phone to the nearest adult.
It turned out George’s mother — Kelly’s 30-year-old daughter, Ruth — had been picked up for shoplifting in a small town two hours’ drive away. George was in the care of a friend of Ruth’s that Kelly had never met. The next day, Kelly would meet the stranger in a mall carpark to collect her grandson.
George would stay with his grandmother for a week. But by December, he would arrive on her doorstep with only the clothes on his back — not for a holiday, but for good. George would also be living, for the first time, with his older sister Mia, who had been in her grandmother’s care since she was a baby.
K elly, 50, is one of an estimated 10,000 Kiwi grandparents who are raising 16,000 grandchildren fulltime, according to 2018 Census data . There are many reasons grandparents end up in this position, says Brad Clark.
