"grow dependent" is a correct and usable phrase in written English.
You can use it to describe when one party becomes dependent on the other, or when their reliance or dependence on something or someone increases. For example: "Due to their steady decrease in income, Mark and his wife have grown increasingly dependent on food banks to make ends meet."
(Some New Old Age readers have referred, in comments, to their own struggles with caring for once-abusive parents as they grow dependent. If that describes your situation, I'd like to hear how you handle the dilemma).
"However, we still let ourselves grow dependent at the expense of investing and taking on the costs of building up other sectors".
"It has been debated in Norway for decades that we should not grow dependent of the oil industry, yet we did.
I've seen clients struggle with the thought of psychotropic medication, afraid that they'll grow dependent.
In other words: If you grow dependent on your smartphone, it becomes a magical device that silently shouts your name at your brain at all times.
"Meanwhile, the Park Service, also part of the Department of Agriculture, asks us to please not feed the animals, because the animals may grow dependent and not learn to take care of themselves".
The largest American farmers have grown dependent on the $19 billion they receive in annual subsidies.
World-class brands that have grown dependent on outsourcing labor-intensive production to China are now searching for alternatives.
She seems never to have had another sexual relationship with a man and grew dependent on her paid female companion.
The contractors and landscapers who have been buoyed by the economic expansion of the past 10 years have grown dependent on immigrants.
They will amplify the process, whether you're memorizing Shakespeare or growing dependent on nicotine.
