DATE: Tuesday, September 30, 1997           TAG: 9709300030

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Column 

SOURCE: Elizabeth Simpson 

                                            LENGTH:   67 lines

GRANDMOTHER DIDN'T HESITATE TO RAISE HER GRANDCHILDREN

THERE'S A POINT IN TIME, says Jewel Shaw, when there's no going back, no walking away, no saying no.

She's talking about her grandchildren, mostly about the two she's raising, Katina, who's 19, and 4-year-old Jordan. And how once she saw them and held them, once she knew their parents weren't going to fend for them, she threw herself into the job of bringing up a second generation.

Arthritic knees not withstanding.

Shaw is one of an estimated 831,000 grandparents across the country raising grandchildren, who number more than a million. The Center on Aging at Bradley University in Peoria, Ill., is trying to tap the experiences of these grandparents to gather data for policies and groups that could help this growing population of caregivers.

I talked with Shaw last week because the early results of the study show that while African-American grandparents make less, on average, and are more likely to be single than white grandparents, they consider raising their grandchildren less of a burden.

The study's researchers want to talk with more black grandmothers because they're under-represented in the study.

Dottie McKenney, who works at the Center on Aging, said the difference in stress may be linked to cultural differences, to black families' being more likely to live in extended families. But whatever the reasons, the researchers would like to explore and chronicle the struggles of these grandparents, as well as the emotional payback.

Shaw, who's black, didn't put much stock in the early findings.

``I don't care if you're white or black. It has nothing to do with race. It's hard for anyone, it really is,'' she said.

While she has the loving part of the job down pat, the money part is harder: First there was a Ford factory job that she finally quit because she couldn't find anyone to keep her grandchildren during her night shift. Welfare payments have helped, but she wonders what welfare reform will do to them. ``Who's going to hire a 59-year-old grandmother with arthritic knees?'' she said. And she's gotten some money over the years caring for other people's children in her home.

No matter the formula, though, it comes up short.

``It's not my grandchildren that I worry about, it's how will I take care of them? How will I feed them? Is there milk for tomorrow?''

And yet, for 19 years, she has answered the call, ever since the day her daughter brought each of the babies home from the hospital and then left Shaw to care for them.

Shaw says she hasn't seen her daughter for a year.

``A lot of people wait until their grandchildren get in trouble, until the police are involved, or social workers,'' she said. ``But you know what's going on with your own grand babies.''

While Shaw says money worries get her down, the grandchildren usually bring her back up. She smiles when she talks about how proud she is of her granddaughter, who plans to go to college next year, and her 4-year-old grandson, who's doing well in a Head Start class.

She laughs when she says she's lost 9 pounds trying to keep up with him.

``He's the sweetest little boy. I wouldn't give him up for anything.'' MEMO: Grandparents interested in participating in the Center on Aging

study can call Dottie McKenney at (800) 695-5927. More than 900

grandparents already have been interviewed, and to complete the study,

researchers are looking specifically for African-American grandmothers

who are 50 or older and who are living with a grandchild under 18 years

of age.

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