Grandparents as Parents: An Ecological Approach to Programming

Abstract

Grandparents are being recycled as parents. Millions of grandparents have returned to the role of parent. Events such as divorce, loss of job or home, the death or incarceration of an adult child with children, or a teen pregnancy may abruptly propel a grandparent into a caregiving role. Grandparents may also step in when the needs of children go unmet for a period of time because of underlying situations such as child abuse, AIDS, substance abuse, and even the effects of welfare reform. (Becklund, 1993; De Toledo & Brown, 1995; Jendrek, 1994; and Yorkey, 1993). While the idea of children living with grandparents is not new, the frequency of grandparent care has increased and the reasons for this phenomenon have changed.These problems, and others, continue to increase the stress on families, and particularly the extended family. Any one of these conditions can seriously strain the ability of family members to sustain the integrity of the family system, and many times multiple conditions further compound the difficulties. Grandparents are called upon in increasing numbers to provide support and assistance to families in need of outside help (Burton, 1992; Creighton, 1991; Minkler, Driver, Roe & Bedeian, 1993; Minkler & Roe, 1993). This support and assistance now often involves full-time parenting of grandchildren.Over three million children currently live with their grandparents in a home where no biological parent is present. This represents a two-thirds increase in numbers during the past decade (Children's Defense Fund, 1997). In terms of actual numbers, Caucasian children represent the greatest sector of the population. Proportionately, however, over one child in eight from African-American families lives with a grandparent as head-of household, and in Hispanic families the ratio is one in sixteen. Grandparent-headed families with young children are found in approximately one in twenty five American households (U.S. Census Bureau, 1991).New Family TypeElder individuals have always played an important part in extended family support roles. Recently, however, the large numbers of parents who are failing, for one reason or another, to effectively parent and meet the developmental needs of their children have given rise to an increasing number of skipped generation families. In these families the biological parents are absent from the home over an extended period of time, and grandparents have had to step in to serve as the sole or primary caregivers for their grandchildren (Jendrek, 1993; Strom & Strom, 1993). Court systems may look to grandparents as an alternative to foster placement, and grandparents may assume a primary caretaker role out of a sense of responsibility or affection for the grandchildren. In many instances, a surviving grandparent must function as a single parent. The number and commonality of this kind of household has developed into a new and rapidly growing family typology (De Toledo & Brown, 1995; Smith, Dannison & Vacha-Haase, 1998).The stress that grandparents experience as repeat parents is quite different from the routine kinds of stress usually associated with raising children. Many of the grandchildren have substantial unmet physical, developmental, and emotional needs, and share an orientation toward and a history of family crisis that is different than the world of grandparents (Smith & Dannison, 1998). Often, grandparents are encouraged by social service agencies or courts involved with the parent(s) of these children to become custodial caregivers for one of several young siblings. Limited public funding often pressures agencies to place at-risk children with relatives to avoid more costly out-of-family placements (Dannison & Nieuwenhuis, 1996).Many grandparent caregivers find their personal resources stretched to the limit. Issues of health, financial stability, and parenting are salient to these individuals. Almost one-half of those caring for grandchildren are grandmothers without partners (Creighton, 1991) and serving as primary caretaker for more than one dependent is not unusual (Minkler & Roe, 1993). …