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A Work in Progress. When Grandparents Raise Their Grandchildren: A Face on Change. When you see a group of children, what goes through your mind?. When you see a group of adults, what thoughts about them do you have?.
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A Work in Progress When Grandparents Raise Their Grandchildren: A Face on Change
When you see a group of children, what goes through your mind?
When you see a group of adults, what thoughts about them do you have?
If you were to single out one child, or one adult would you be curious about … Housing? Family dynamics? Enough to eat? Recreational or social life? Wishes, hopes, and dreams? Worries and fears?
Staggering Statistics: • 1991 Census Bureau reported 1.7% of US children being raised by grandparents in a home w/out a parent present. • 2009 Census Bureau shows that number to have increased to 2.5% • According a report by AARP that is nearly one million American children…
Who are the grandparents? Ethnicity covers all lines Majority between ages of 55 and 64 Many live in poverty Often on fixed income Tremendous need for affordable housing A need for housing that meets the health needs of the grandparents Often unaware of the resources available
# 1 Cause Drug abuse…a debilitating dead end for parent makes them less than adequate role-models renders them helpless when faced with the daunting task of raising children Often the frustrations lead to violence and trauma for the children, as well as further trauma for the parent, which can increase the desire to continue to use
Roles and Boundaries Redefined From supportive grandparents to primary caregivers From friendly advisor to authority figure and disciplinarian The role with the biological parent becomes cloudy and difficult…the normal balance of relationships have been disrupted and all lines have become blurred.
Changed Expectationsand Trade-offs Future plans…What happens to the children if we can no longer care for them? Housing…Adequate to raise a family? Retirement??? Unable to, or should we??? Dinner plans/Babysitter…Not as easy to see friends Diapers and juice! What happened to the wine and movies?? Insurance Finances – All available resources are in flux… Quiet dates/Soccer and Little League Health issues get set aside for a variety of reasons…
Some important resources… • AARP • www.childwelfare.gov • www.seniorcare.net • MA Office of Elder Affairs • MA Council on Aging • MA Commission on the Status of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (a result of the 2008 Child Advocate Bill)
Health Issues Grow… • Over the past 6 years my husband has faced Kidney cancer, prostrate cancer, a knee replacement and back surgery…. • We both take high blood pressure medication and I now have type 2 diabetes… • Our issues become a bit more complex with every passing year…
AndYet, For Us, At The End of The Day… Most of the Time, We Think We’ll Make It Work Out OK!
In a group of children, who is... Dealing with anxiety? Having trouble socializing at school? Having trouble concentrating at school? Wishing and hoping to someday be reunited with a biological parent? Trying to cope with half-siblings? Daily dealing with the fear of losing their grandparents…and loses their hair instead? Or develops some other disorder?
Staggering Statistics 1995 – 3.9 million grandchildren under the age of 18 living with grandparents. 1997 – number rose to 5,435,000, or 7.7% of all children in US. 2000 US Census – 5.8 million adults 30 years old and older living with grandchildren under age of 18. Roughly 40% were over 65 yrs old 2003 – nearly 2% of MA children in grandparent headed homes. The majority are raised by two grandparents, or a grandparent alone, with varying amounts of parental involvement.
Issues that dominate…It is a complicated new world Stability for the children Protection for the children Identity issues Sadness – “Who am I?” Power in a name…Mommy, Daddy The adoption shadow
Advocacy is important Grandparent support group – different from foster care support Grandparents need to be given a place to speak By hearing one another we can increase our coping strategies Reclaim hope in the face of our tragedies Wake up the media by participating in events like Grandrally…A yearly event in Washington,D.C….in the hope of gaining more support to help make these families work!
There are still questions to explore… What will the grandparent raised child look like in his/her teen years? What influence does age or gender have on the child? Or the Grandparent? What coping strategies and resources are most needed? How can we let our government know of the needs that exist for this population, AND make them care enough to do something?
Synthesis Overview A Face on Change When Grandparents Raise Grandchildren By Terry Smith
Synthesis Goals • The goal of this project is to explore and define the impact, negative and positive, on grandparents and grandchildren when the parents no longer parent and the grandparents become the primary caregivers.
Personal Interest in Issue • As a grandparent raising two of my own grandchildren, I have been faced with a myriad of issues I thought I was done with Until we opened our home to these two children. • Firsthand experience has caused me to think in a critical fashion about both grandparents and grandchildren dealing with housing issues, financial burdens, and health as well as social concerns.
Current Structure of Project • Preface - Questions to pique interest • Chapter 1 • Personal Story – Provide credibility • Chapter 2 • Statistical Presentation – Show the staggering number of grandparents as primary caregivers, including information on age, gender, and ethnicity.
Current Structure, Cont. • Chapter 3 – Challenges grandparents must face – housing, financial, health, social , emotional • Chapter 4 – The challenges grandchildren face – housing, health, emotional, social, educational • Coping strategies and resource availability will be woven into both chapters.
What is new? • In doing research, I have found articles written as professional works stating and clarifying issues. • I have found articles written from a grandparent’s point of view, a statement of the personal story. • Rarely have I seen the two combined. I want to present both a personal sketch and an objective presentation of the concerns and possible solutions for grandparents and grandchildren.
Previous Work • This power point presentation was done 6 years ago. I will make changes to it for my final presentation, such as to update all the statistics, but there are parts of the format I want to keep. It is a work in progress.
