The Bodi family heads for the train in Budapest Hungary. They are setting off on a journey to the countryside -- in search of adopting -- yes -- a grandmother.

[Father Attila Bodi]:
"We need a grandmother. It's a great help when a family has grandparents. Unfortunately, it's very difficult for us to solve this so we are trying to take advantage of this opportunity."

The Bodis are one of hundreds of families without grandparents who have turned to a special new foundation called "Adopt a Countryside Granny."

The foundation is dedicated to bringing city families together with grandmothers in the countryside.

The Bodi family met their newly-found adopted grandmother Irma Visokai in a small village in northern Hungary.

[Irma Visokai, Adopted Grandmother]:
"Somehow families have fallen apart very much. It's a terrible thing to think of how many children do not have grandmothers, or grandfathers or other relatives. Many people live in just a small family and they never go anywhere."

Since the news spread that the Bodi family adopted Visokai as their children's grandmother, several other women in the village are thinking of following the example.

Each adopting family makes their own agreement with the grandmothers. Some make a kind of barter-deal like the Bodis - physical jobs for childcare - others pay money for the service.