In an unlikely partnership, southern Arizona’s two congressional representatives, Democrat Raul Grjialva and Republican Martha McSally, are pairing up today to show their support for kinship families and grandparents who are raising their grandchildren.

The two representatives have pledged to introduce a bipartisan resolution on the House floor declaring September National Kinship Caregivers Month.

So what challenges does this growing population face?

First of all, this is a growing population. Nationwide, there are 2.6 million adults who are raising their grandchildren or other family members, and they often don’t get the same kinds of financial supports and resources that other caregivers in similar positions do.

I spoke with Ann Nichols more about this. She’s a retired social work professor and the state chair of the Arizona Grandparent Ambassadors. She’ll be joining the representatives at the announcement today. She actually raised a grandchild for four years and she told me that kids being raised by their grandparents or other family members is very common.