Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildre

Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren

Stephanie Cooper 02/25/2014

Abstract

A lot of parents are leaving the responsibility of parenting roles due to numerous personal and economic situations. Many of these household may contain three generations, with the most rapid growth occurring in the house holds containing grandchildren and grandparents only. In filling these roles there are numerous health, legal, financial, education, and emotional barriers that make this very difficult to grandparents. If they are not successful the alternative for most of these children is definitely foster is inadequate care. The role of the grandparents is not likely to change anytime soon.

References
•Joselin D, Brouard A. The prevalence of grandmothers as primary caregivers in a poor pediatric population. J Community Health. 1995 Oct; 20(5):383–401.
•Roe KM, Minkler M, Saunders F, Thomson GE. Health of grandmothers raising children of the crack cocaine epidemic. Med Care. 1996 Nov; 34(11):1072–1084.
•Minkler M, Fuller-Thomson E, Miller D, Driver D. Depression in grandparents raising grandchildren: results of a national longitudinal study. Arch FM Med. 1997 Sep-Oct; 6(5):445–452.
•Jendrek MP. Grandparents who parent their grandchildren: circumstances and decisions. Gerontologist. 1994 Apr; 34(2):206–216.
•Burton LM. Black grandparents rearing children of drug-addicted parents: stressors, outcomes, and social service needs. Gerontologist. 1992 Dec; 32(6):744–751.
•Fuller-Thomson E, Minkler M, Driver D. A profile of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States. Gerontologist. 1997 Jun; 37(3):406–411.

Grandparents raising their grandchildren is an area of focus in the public eye. Since the 1980s the rate of grandparents raising their grandkids has grown dramatically. In the 1980, 2.3 million (4%) of the children lived in a

References: •Joselin D, Brouard A. The prevalence of grandmothers as primary caregivers in a poor pediatric population. J Community Health. 1995 Oct; 20(5):383–401. •Roe KM, Minkler M, Saunders F, Thomson GE. Health of grandmothers raising children of the crack cocaine epidemic. Med Care. 1996 Nov; 34(11):1072–1084. •Minkler M, Fuller-Thomson E, Miller D, Driver D. Depression in grandparents raising grandchildren: results of a national longitudinal study. Arch FM Med. 1997 Sep-Oct; 6(5):445–452. •Jendrek MP. Grandparents who parent their grandchildren: circumstances and decisions. Gerontologist. 1994 Apr; 34(2):206–216. •Burton LM. Black grandparents rearing children of drug-addicted parents: stressors, outcomes, and social service needs. Gerontologist. 1992 Dec; 32(6):744–751. •Fuller-Thomson E, Minkler M, Driver D. A profile of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States. Gerontologist. 1997 Jun; 37(3):406–411. Grandparents raising their grandchildren is an area of focus in the public eye. Since the 1980s the rate of grandparents raising their grandkids has grown dramatically. In the 1980, 2.3 million (4%) of the children lived in a grandparents home. The number of grandparents their grandchildren will continue to grow like it has in recent years. The United States census Bureau (2001) found that the number children being brought up by their grandparents has increased to 641,000. The most common reason of the situations are parent’s death, AIDS, drug abuse, and others. These cases can be found among the different social classes, ethnic group, and religion. Today over 5.6 million grandparents live with their grandchildren. Almost 4 million grandchildren have their grandparents as primary caregivers. When parents are absent or unable to raise their kids, grandparents are often the ones to step in. Raising a second generation can bring many rewards like giving the kids a better life then what they are having, security, develop a better relationship, and keep the family together. Grandparents also have great life experiences. They have already had their own children and aware of mistakes they have made, so they will not make the same mistake once more. So they make great parents for another generation. Due to their life experiences they have life priorities and ideals. Grandparents are usually retired so they can devote time to their grandkids. Sometimes grandparents complete replaces the parent as a result of their adult children not planned pregnancy and domestic violence. In such situation the grandparent is the only alternative. But no matter how much you love your grandkids taking them into your care come with major adjustments. But it can make real difference in your grandkids life. Some kids may have some behavior problems because of these agencies removing the kids from the home of their parents and placing them with relatives, majority of the time it with the child grandparent. The child problems may have a great impact on the grandparent’s health. Research shows that majority of the children raised by their grandparent either have had serious problems with their biological parents or do not have a parent at all usually have a personality disorder and behavior problems as a result. Another great problem is the big gap between the child and the grandparent generation of social, cultural, and surroundings. So with that being said their standards are that both of them have do not coincide with each other. This can lead to misunderstanding and will strain the relationship and make the atmosphere in the family worse. Children raised by caregivers who expercinced emotional or delinquent behavior and problems in school. Grandparents are not up to date with the school subjects due limited knowledge and experience in modern technology. This can also result in difficult educational experiences. Grandparent’s age is another serious problem because they are 3 times older than their grandchild and there is a high probability that the grandparent can die before the child’s turns 18. Due to the task of raising their grandkids, some grandparents experience health problems like hypertension, depression, insomnia, back and stomach problems, and others. Grandmothers who care for their grandkids fulltime need help for depression and family strains. Raising grandkids often deal with feelings of guilt and resentment towards their own grown-up child for being the cause of the pitiable state of their grandchildren. Most grandparents are not well prepared to handle the anger, grief, and sadness, nor are they able to handle their emotional reactions about what has happened. They feel bad for their grandkids and children if the grandchildren experience trauma and pain. Sometimes the grandchildren act out because they don’t understand the reason for not being able to live with their parents. This often leads to behavioral problems of grandchildren that grandparents have to deal with, causing the latter mental stress.