BUCYRUS — A growing number of grandparents in Ohio are raising grandchildren and Crawford County is no exception.

According to Grandfamilies.org, 124,000 children in Ohio live with a relative with no parent present and almost 100,000 of those relatives are grandparents.

Candy Yocum, activities director of the Crawford County Council on Aging, knows first-hand about the issues facing local grandparents that have been thrust back into the role of parent for their grandchildren.

“There is a growing population in our county of grandparents raising their grandchildren,” Yocum said. “Almost 10 percent of children live with a grandparent or other relative and of those, 25 percent are living in poverty.”

She said there is a very real generation gap.

“We even have one great-grandparent who is raising grandchildren. She is doing a phenomenal job but when you stop and think of how different it would have been when she was raising her kids compared to now, you can see the many challenges there are,” Yocum said.

Yocum has organized a new support group that will meet on the second Thursday of each month from 2-3 p.m. at the Crawford Council on Aging, located at 200 S. Spring St., in Bucyrus.

“It is a meeting for grandparents or other family members raising children,” Yocum said. “It is a way for them to meet others who share similar experiences, learn valuable information and build a support system with others going through the same issues.”

Each meeting will feature a guest speaker who will provide useful information along with a discussion. The first meeting in Bucyrus will be at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 14, and will the speaker will be Cindy Wallis, Director of Community Counseling Services, Inc.

“Laura (Johnson) at Cake and Icing Bakery in Galion started the Grandparents Raising Grandkids Support Group in January and we have organized our meetings to be similar. Her meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of each month from 5:30 to 7 p.m. so people can attend either one or both, depending on what works with their schedule,” Yocum said.

Yocum said it helps when people can talk with others who are in a similar situation.

“We will also be working with other local agencies to provide grandparents and extended family raising children with resources and assistance,” Yocum said.

For more information, call 419-562-3050, option 4.