- Life is much, much different than expected it to be moving into retirement.

I expected that we would be traveling and sitting around on the beach and instead I'm getting up at six o'clock to put a middle schooler on the bus and being there when the bus gets home.

All those other things that parents of a young child would be doing.

(peaceful music) I expected when August came to stay with us, that it would be for a very brief period of time while her parents were kind of getting their act together and able to take August again, and that didn't happen.

We ended up with permanent custody of August.

I have used the Kinship Navigator program a couple of times.

There are some really nice learning opportunities.

- A lot of the common issues that we are seeing our caregivers face is that a lot of them are grandparents who are battling some of those health issues as well as financial issues and housing issues.

The process is kind of that people reach out and they say, hey, I'm a Kinship caregiver.

This is where I'm living, this is the needs that I have.

And the Kinship Navigator will reach out to us and let us know that there's a need in our area.

- A lot of times these adults, they're taking on the custody through family court, even informally, but nobody's told them about their DSS services that they can get.

If you're considering kinship care, I want you to know you're not alone.

- I find my grandchild a really just delightful person to have around, even on their most difficult days, and there are very many difficult days.

There are also real joys and rewards to tackling this and it's turned into, you know, my favorite relationship of all time.

- [Narrator] Live well, age well, never stop learning.

Albany Guardian Society, helping older adults in the capital region age well through information and education.

Learn more about programs and classes.

Albany Guardian Society.