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
(Edited publisher abstract)
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)
Child and Family Social Work, 17(3), August 2012, pp.306-315.
Publisher:
Wiley
In many Western societies, grandparenthood has traditionally been associated with a ‘peripheral role’. However, a new family type, the grandparent-headed family, has emerged, largely due to changing social conditions over the past 25 years. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experience of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in New South Wales, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 34 grandparents caring for 45 children between the age of 1-17 years. Their narratives were transcribed and studied using paradigmatic analysis to reveal common themes among the stories told. Identity theory further informed the discussion of these findings. Woven throughout the grandparent narratives is a story of paradox; of experience simultaneously made up of pain/pleasure, myth/reality, inclusion/exclusion, being deserving/undeserving, visible/invisible and voiced/silenced. The findings signal a significant role-identity conflict for grandparents who are parenting grandchildren. This study points to the need for policy and practice that more closely reflects the complexity of experience associated with the grandparent-as-parent role.
In many Western societies, grandparenthood has traditionally been associated with a ‘peripheral role’. However, a new family type, the grandparent-headed family, has emerged, largely due to changing social conditions over the past 25 years. The purpose of this qualitative study was to better understand the experience of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren in New South Wales, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with 34 grandparents caring for 45 children between the age of 1-17 years. Their narratives were transcribed and studied using paradigmatic analysis to reveal common themes among the stories told. Identity theory further informed the discussion of these findings. Woven throughout the grandparent narratives is a story of paradox; of experience simultaneously made up of pain/pleasure, myth/reality, inclusion/exclusion, being deserving/undeserving, visible/invisible and voiced/silenced. The findings signal a significant role-identity conflict for grandparents who are parenting grandchildren. This study points to the need for policy and practice that more closely reflects the complexity of experience associated with the grandparent-as-parent role.
Subject terms:
kinship care, parental role, parenting, self-concept, family relations, grandparents;