The Grandmothers Who Become Mothers Again

"These are not women who just help get their grandkids ready for school in the morning or watch them on a Saturday night; these are women who have chosen to become parents again, sparing their grandchildren from life in the foster system."

"Grandfamilies, as these families sometimes call themselves, are almost always forged by tragic circumstances, whether abuse, neglect, addiction, arrest, or death. They exist everywhere in this country; nearly three million children in the United States are being raised by their grandparents, another way that older Americans are working longer, well beyond retirement age."

"Such families are common in Appalachia, where poverty and incarceration rates are high, and the effects of the opioid crisis linger across successive generations. In West Virginia alone, somewhere around twenty-five thousand grandchildren are being cared for by their grandparents."

"Wilson met his particular mawmaws through a support group organized by West Virginia State University. He went to one of their meetings in Lincoln County, two hours or so east of Lexington, Kentucky, hoping to make a documentary, but he soon found that the children liked being filmed less than they liked being photographed."

West Virginia grandmothers are known by many names, including mawmaws. A photographer spent years meeting women who are not only related to grandchildren but serve as their primary caregivers. These grandfamilies are commonly formed after abuse, neglect, addiction, arrest, or death, and they exist across the United States. Nearly three million children are raised by grandparents nationwide, reflecting older adults working longer. Grandfamilies are especially common in Appalachia due to poverty, high incarceration rates, and lingering effects of the opioid crisis. In West Virginia, about twenty-five thousand grandchildren are cared for by grandparents. The photographer connected with these mawmaws through a support group at West Virginia State University and photographed families in everyday settings like living rooms and front porches.

Read at The New Yorker