NEWARK, Del. — When Stacia Bourne and her husband considered having a second child, the cost of care was a major obstacle. Their first child’s day care bill was roughly equal to the family’s mortgage, Bourne said. The calculation changed when Bourne’s mother, Mary Jo Galusha, offered to retire from teaching and move from Idaho to Delaware to help with child care. Galusha, now 67, packed her belongings into a red Volkswagen Beetle and drove across the country. She later traded the car for an SUV that could more easily accommodate two car seats. Galusha now cares for Bourne’s younger child, Robin, for about 30 hours a week while Bourne and her husband work. Robin was born in late 2024, and Galusha plans to provide care until the child begins kindergarten. Her Newark home includes a playroom, a craft area and a bedroom for her grandchildren. “It’s a joy,” Galusha said. “It’s like magic to watch them grow up.” The arrangement is deeply personal, but the pressure behind it is widespread. Child Care Aware of America estimates that the average annual cost of care for a child under 5 reached $13,184 in 2025. In some communities, child care costs rival rent or college tuition, while families may also struggle to find an available spot. Nicole Jorwic, chief program officer at Caring Across Generations, said grandparents are increasingly covering gaps left by an underfunded child-care system. “The reality is that because this country hasn’t invested in a childcare infrastructure that is flexible and affordable and reliable, grandparents are filling in the gaps that the service system leaves behind,” Jorwic said. The need has grown as more households depend on two full-time incomes. Pew Research Center found that 52% of different-sex couples with children had both parents working full time in 2025, up from 31% in 1975. Single-parent households and families raising children with disabilities can face additional challenges finding care that fits their schedules and needs. Grandparents often offer parents flexibility that formal care cannot, including care at the family home or on a changing schedule. AARP estimates that grandparents provide about $731 billion in unpaid caregiving each year. Among grandparents who provide care, the median amount is about 200 hours annually, or 3.8 hours a week, excluding those who serve as primary caregivers. But the arrangement can carry significant costs for older adults. Caregiving can limit paid work, strain health and social lives, and require grandparents to relocate or take on responsibilities they expected to have left behind after raising their own children. Yalanda Lattimore, 59, provides care for her 1-year-old granddaughter in Atlanta about a day and a half each week. She said the commitment has reduced the time she can devote to her handmade-soap business, blogging and podcast work. “I felt like I could make the sacrifice more than they could, and it truly has been a sacrifice,” Lattimore said. “You just put things on hold, because your priorities are different.” More than 11.7 million Americans age 65 and older were in the labor force last month, according to federal data, making it difficult for many grandparents to provide regular unpaid care even when their families need it. Madonna Harrington Meyer, a Syracuse University sociology professor who studies aging and grandparenting, said some grandparents also feel that intensive caregiving leaves too little time for the recreational relationship they had imagined with their grandchildren. For Bourne, Galusha’s support has made a second child possible, but the family recognizes how dependent the plan is on one person’s continued availability. Bourne and her mother coordinate their schedules with a shared online calendar and revisit the arrangement about twice a year. “I’d much prefer to have my mom take care of Robin, but then you always worry, like if in six months she decides that she wants to move and be near another grandbaby, then we’ll have to scramble and figure out something else,” Bourne said. Galusha offered a quick reassurance from nearby: “No plans for that.”