State Rep. John Lepper's 14-year effort to provide help to grandparents who raise their children's children took a giant step forward with Senate passage of his proposal to create a commission to study the issue.

Lepper, R-Attleboro, who has raised two of his grandchildren, has sponsored similar legislation to provide stipends to grandparents who raise their grandchildren since he entered the Legislature in 1994. The bill never passed.

"It never went anywhere because it is assumed that it would be really expensive," he said. "And it's been difficult to generate the knowledge that it is something much needed."

Lepper's new effort began last year when he filed the bill with hopes a study commission would raise awareness of the challenges facing grandparents in raising their grandchildren. It is still under consideration in the House Ways and Means Committee.

A similar Senate bill was included in January in broader child abuse and neglect legislation. "The main objective is to try to have a coordinative agency for existing grandparents raising grandchildren associations across the commonwealth," Lepper said. "They will have an opportunity to have a focal point and tell the commission what their concerns are."

Lepper said the cost of the commission should be minimal because its members won't be paid. No estimate is available.

His ultimate goal is passage of legislation that would compensate grandparents similar to the stipends foster parents receive from the state, about $17 or $18 a day.

"Each year, it would provide recommendations, write legislation and have it introduced," he said.

In 2002, Lepper obtained $50,000 for a University of Massachusetts study to determine how many kinship families were raising a children not their own. The study found that of 54,000 children raised by kinship, 29,000 were raised by their grandparents. That represented about 2 percent of Massachusetts children at the time.

"Still, it hasn't gone anywhere," he said. "I am hoping that the commission would say, 'OK, these are the issues and this is how we can address them."

Lepper said it was important "grandparents be recognized for doing a tough job.

"There are so many difficulties. For instance, how do you deal, as a grandparent, with a teenager? And the people who are doing this are doing it because something tragic happened," he said.

The proposal is included in a high-priority Senate bill modernizing child abuse and neglect laws. A similar bill filed by House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi was approved last fall by the House.

DiMasi's bill would develop a five-year plan to improve child services, making the process of reporting cases of abuse easier. The Senate bill would establish an Office of the Child Advocate and provide tuition and fee waivers for children in foster care who attend state colleges and universities.

Both bills also increase penalties for social workers who fail to report abuse and neglect cases or who file frivolous claims.

The bill will go to a special conference committee, composed by both House and Senate members, to work out the differences in the legislation.