IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsoctx/v14y2024i6p79-d1405110.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

“Wasn’t in Our Game Plan”: Reflections of Older Grandparents Navigating Child Welfare Systems

Author

Listed:
  • Tina L. Peterson

    (School of Social Work, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45627, USA)

Abstract

Kinship caregivers encounter complex issues when interfacing with the child welfare system. Most kinship care families are not connected to child welfare. The experiences and extent of child welfare connection among older grandparents raising adolescent grandchildren are understudied. This study describes in-depth reflections from older grandparents raising adolescent grandchildren about circumstances leading to kinship care and the extent of child welfare involvement. Nineteen older grandparents raising adolescent grandchildren participated in qualitative phenomenological interviews. Eligibility criteria included identifying as a primary caregiver aged 40 or older for a grandchild 12 years or older who lived with them at least three days during the week. Respondents were primarily married (58%), white/non-Hispanic (53%), and grandmothers (84%) and had some college education or were college graduates (79%). Older grandparent caregivers described three themes: the intensive child welfare path, the influence of indirect child welfare professionals, and guardians with influence. The onset of kinship care, with or without intensive child welfare involvement, stemmed primarily from child abuse and neglect linked primarily to adolescent pregnancies and parental substance use. Child welfare and other helping professionals must recognize and problem-solve with older grandparent caregivers to meet complex stage-of-life needs in and outside of traditional child welfare settings.

Suggested Citation

  • Tina L. Peterson, 2024. "“Wasn’t in Our Game Plan”: Reflections of Older Grandparents Navigating Child Welfare Systems," Societies, MDPI, vol. 14(6), pages 1-9, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:14:y:2024:i:6:p:79-:d:1405110
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/6/79/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/14/6/79/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gentles-Gibbs, Natallie & Zema, Jordan, 2020. "It’s not about them without them: Kinship grandparents’ perspectives on family empowerment in public child welfare," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    2. Xu, Yanfeng & Bright, Charlotte Lyn & Ahn, Haksoon & Huang, Hui & Shaw, Terry, 2020. "A new kinship typology and factors associated with receiving financial assistance in kinship care," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Koh, Eun & Daughtery, Laura & Ware, Allysa, 2022. "Informal kinship caregivers’ parenting experience," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Shobhit Srivastava & T. Muhammad & Priya Saravanakumar, 2023. "Factors associated with discordance of actual and preferred living arrangements among older adults: an analytical cross-sectional study in India," Journal of Population Research, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 1-16, September.
    3. Dunkerley, Stacy & Brown, Amanda & Akin, Becci & McArthur, Vickie, 2024. "Honoring Family: Using parent partner expertise to strengthen a child welfare coaching program," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    4. McPherson, Lynne & Gatwiri, Kathomi & Day, Kylie & Parmenter, Natalie & Mitchell, Janise & Macnamara, Noel, 2022. "“The most challenging aspect of this journey has been dealing with child protection”: Kinship carers’ experiences in Australia," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    5. Bekaert, S. & Paavilainen, E. & Schecke, H. & Baldacchino, A. & Jouet, E. & Zabłocka – Żytka, L. & Bachi, B. & Bartoli, F. & Carrà, G. & Cioni, R.M. & Crocamo, C. & Appleton, J.V., 2021. "Family members’ perspectives of child protection services, a metasynthesis of the literature," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    6. Lee, Joyce Y. & Ogilvie, Tara & Yoon, Susan H. & Kirsch, Jaclyn & Koh, Eun & Spencer, Michael S., 2022. "Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander children in foster care: A descriptive study of an overlooked child welfare population," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    7. Gómez, Anthony, 2021. "Associations between family resilience and health outcomes among kinship caregivers and their children," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    8. Gómez, Anthony & Wollen, Sierra L. & Day, Angelique G. & Garcia-Rosales, Katherine V. & Feltner, Alanna & Shearlock, AnnaMarie & Delaplane, Geene, 2024. "“Now I am calm because they guide you:” A mixed-method exploratory study of the service needs and experiences of Latine kinship caregivers in Washington State," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    9. Hoffmeister, Michael, 2024. "Inequitable access to relative caregiving: Implications of foster care regulations in Finland, New Zealand, and the United States," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    10. Washington, Tyreasa & Despard, Mathieu, 2024. "Making a way out of no way: The importance of improving financial instability among African American kinship care families," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsoctx:v:14:y:2024:i:6:p:79-:d:1405110. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.