Grandparents raising their grandchildren: acknowledging the experience of grief

Authors:
BACKHOUSE Jan, GRAHAM Anne
Journal article citation:
Australian Social Work, 66(3), 2013, pp.440-454.
Publisher:
Taylor and Francis

This paper explores the experience of grief as reported by grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in Australia. The data presented are part of a larger qualitative study that investigated the lived experience of 34 grandparents who have taken on the full-time care of grandchildren when their own children have been unable to parent them. In-depth interviews conducted with the grandparent participants and analysed through a three-layer narrative analysis. Themes include the reasons for caring for grandchildren, the loss of traditional grandparent role, social isolation, and lack of recognition by support services. While all of the grandparents referred to the benefits, satisfaction, and joy of taking on the parenting of grandchildren, their narratives were deeply imbued with experiences of loss and grief. The discussion analyses this experience in relation to grief theory and posits that the complex and disenfranchised nature of grandparents’ grief means it often goes unacknowledged, including in the policies, programs, and services developed to support grandparents-as-parents. (Edited publisher abstract)

Subject terms:
kinship care, grandparents, parenting, grief;
Content type:
research
Location(s):
Australia
Link:
Journal home page
ISSN online:
1447-0748
ISSN print:
0312-407X

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