Who We Are
Grandfamilies Alliance is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the economic security, housing stability, health, and wellbeing of grandfamilies — grandparents and other relatives who are raising children when parents are unable to do so due to incarceration, substance use, death, mental illness, economic instability, military service, or other family crises.
We are a demonstration organization. We design, launch, and rigorously evaluate pilot programs that produce replicable, scalable models — then translate those models into policy reform and national adoption.
The Scale of the Need
Across the U.S., an estimated 2.4 million grandparents are raising grandchildren. In New York City alone, roughly 250,000 children are being raised by relatives outside the foster care system — and in the Bronx, that number may reach 50,000–70,000 children. These families are largely invisible to major institutions and vastly under-supported.
Our Theory of Change
When grandparents and relatives have stable income, stable housing, and access to coordinated supportive services, children can remain safely within their families — preventing foster care placement and improving long-term outcomes for both children and caregivers.
Our approach is distinctive because it addresses income, housing, and services simultaneously, in one organizational model. Existing national organizations produce reports and policy tools. We build the proof.
What Makes Us Different
Two national organizations address grandfamilies in a limited way: Generations United (which provides technical assistance and policy reports to institutions) and Grandfamilies.org (a legal database and information clearinghouse). Neither develops housing, runs income pilots, or directly serves families in a sustained demonstration model.
Grandfamilies Alliance fills a gap that has existed for two decades:
- We are the only organization proposing to develop purpose-built, replicable Grandfamilies housing — and to do so at reduced cost through modular construction
- We are the only organization piloting a kinship income support model outside the foster care system, tied to rigorous data collection and evaluation
- We are the only national organization integrating income, housing, and services within a single demonstration framework
- We work in proximity to families who have never touched the child welfare system — and are essentially invisible to every major institution
Long-Term Vision
Over a five-year horizon, Grandfamilies Alliance aims to:
- Produce the first peer-reviewed evidence base on kinship caregiver income support outside the foster care system
- Complete and open the first Grandfamilies Village in the East Bay as a national demonstration site
- Publish a national policy report and replication toolkit for adoption by other states and cities
- Catalyze kinship care parity payment legislation at the state and federal level
- Develop replicable housing and service models for at least three additional cities
- Reduce unnecessary foster care placements by strengthening the family-based safety net that already exists
The children in these families deserve the same stability as any child in foster care — and the grandparents raising them deserve recognition, resources, and a genuine partnership with the systems they are already holding up.
Leadership
Grandfamilies Alliance is led by Deborah Small and Cynthia Petterson. For more information, please reach out directly via our contact page.