Grandparents raising children say a free DVD offering parenting advice is not enough and they are seeking the same rights as foster parents.
The call comes as the Government launched a celebrity-studded DVD that will be sent to more than 5000 grandparents.
Social Welfare Minister Paula Bennett says the DVDs, which cost taxpayers $600,000 a year and offer practical parenting advice, will be given away.
But many grandparents say it is not nearly enough.
More than half of all grandparents raising children are doing it alone, and they are mostly women.
They depend on the $15,000 a year that they get from superannuation with some getting an extra $170 a week from the unsupported child benefit, bringing the total to $24,000 a year.
But it is not easy getting that benefit with grandparents required to meet a range of criteria and there is often a long period of time when there is no financial support.
Foster parents, however, get help.
"They get add-on extras, which might be clothing allowances or it might be school fees paid for. Grandparents don't get that," one grandparent told ONE News.
Bennett said the Government understands the difficulty some grandparents are facing.
"There's always more that we could and can do and we are constantly looking at it and trying to get our priorities right," she said.