Topeka ? After raising four children, Bill Ocamb was thinking about retirement when things changed in ways he had never expected.

About a decade ago, the 69-year-old Ocamb lived in the San Diego area and found himself caring for two infant grandchildren. He said his daughter their mother was into drugs and couldn’t raise them.

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Ocamb, 69, and his wife, Jody, 38, adopted the children. Six years ago, they moved to his hometown of Ellis because he felt it was a better place to raise Cody, 11, and Makala, 10.

“There is no place on earth totally drug free, but this is as close as you can get. It’s just a good clean place to raise kids,” Ocamb said of the rural setting of Ellis.

As for the children’s mother, he said, “We have no contact with her.”

Ocamb said he hadn’t regretted a moment since he and his wife, a special education teacher, started caring for the children.

“They are our entire life. Everything we do is seen through their eyes,” the retired printer said. “That is exactly the way we want it. We live for them.”

Based on 2000 Census Bureau figures released Tuesday, the Ocambs are among 17,873 Kansas grandparents who say they are the primary providers for their grandchildren.

Statewide, 50.7 percent of grandparents living with at least one grandchild under age 18 said they provided most basic needs for the child. Half of those grandparents were in Sedgwick, Wyandotte, Johnson and Shawnee counties.

For the first time, the Census Bureau counted households where grandparents were raising grandchildren, as part of its long form sent to about one in six households.

Only grandparents who provided sole support of the children were supposed to answer the questions, which came about as part of the 1997 Welfare Reform Act.

Because the questions weren’t asked during the 1990 census, there is no direct comparison, although the general consensus is the number has increased.

A growing trend

Separate census data of all households surveyed in 2000 showed 29,026 children under 18 living in grandparent-headed households in Kansas a 43.4 percent increase from 1990.

“The thing it says about our society is this type of family makeup is a growing trend,” said Amy Goyer, director of the AARP Grandparents Information Center in Washington. “It’s a family pattern we really can’t ignore.”

Ocamb considers himself lucky. With his retirement income and his wife’s teaching salary, they are in fairly good shape.

‘Greatest pleasure on earth’

“At an older age, I have the time to participate with them and enjoy the whole 24 hours a day,” he said.

Ocamb said his advice for grandparents in his situation was simple.

“Just tell them not to look at it as a burden but one of the greatest pleasures on earth,” he said. “The more you do for them, the more you want to do for them.”

Ocamb’s story isn’t that unusual, officials say.

“It is generally reasons where the parent can’t adequately care for their child and the grandparents step in to fill the void,” said Secretary on Aging Connie Hubbell.

She said reasons could include such things as drug and alcohol abuse, unemployment, divorce and child abuse and neglect.

“If the parent is unable to care for that child, a grandparent is generally a better alternative than a foster home or an adoptive family,” Hubbell said.

Some grandparents, especially those on fixed incomes, may find that taking on grandchildren isn’t easy.

“For some it is a hardship. For some it means coordinating their work hours, their family requirements and now their grandchildren’s needs,” Hubbell said.

But, she added, “The ones I know do it because they care about those children and they want a quality of life we wish for everybody.”

Hubbell said there was some help available. Several Area Agency on Aging offices have support groups for grandparents and contact information for additional assistance.