Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren

A report commissioned by the Federal Government in 2003 that examines how grandparents are coping with the difficult and often unpleasant prospect of having to raise their own grandchildren.

Many grandparents take on the role of raising their grandchildren, as they have throughout the ages. The difference now is the effect of parental drug abuse, which has resulted in a recent and rapid increase in the numbers of children being raised by their grandparents.

Grandparents can often suffer considerable strain coping with children who are traumatised by their experiences.

Abandoned grandchildren can arrive on their doorstep unexpectedly, feeling stressed and bewildered, and often without adequate clothing, bedding, school uniforms etc.

In these situations, grandparents not only have to live through their own personal grief and loss, they are often angry at being placed in this situation by their own adult children. This can be at a time when the grandparents may still have other children at home or perhaps they were enjoying freedom from family responsibilities or a well earned retirement or achievement at work.

In 2000 the Victorian Department of Human Services conducted an audit of formal kinship care and found that at least 52 per cent of abusive parents were known to misuse substances. Likewise, in a study of grandparents raising grandchildren in the USA in 2001, found that 72 per cent were raising grandchildren due to maternal substance abuse.

In 2003 the Federal Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, asked the Councils on the Ageing (COTA) to survey grandparents who were raising their grandchildren about a number of key issues:

• Their existing support mechanisms
• What additional support they may require
• The financial and legal issues they may be facing and
• Any concerns they may have about the well being of their grandchildren.

The 'Grandparents Raising Grandchildren' project was funded via the Commonwealth Child Abuse Prevention Program which aims to prevent child abuse by funding various activities that promote positive parenting and help families cope with the different demands of raising children. The focus for this project was on:

• Grandparents raising grandchildren full-time (not including grandparents who provide childcare)
• Grandparents who are primary carers for extended periods (e.g. grandparents of grandchildren considered to be at risk when their parents have a mental illness)

Follow this link to Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (opens in new browser window)

For further reading visit:

The following links will each open in a new browser window

COTA - Caring for grandchildren links

COTA - Government Listens to Grandparent "Heroes"

Seniors.gov.au

Grandfamilies - A Resource Guide for Western Australian Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (New Zealand)

Second Time Around: A Guide for Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren by Alison Richards (UK)                       

Raising a Family Again - Ann Kerr (Canada)

FIRSTGOV.gov (US Government Site) - Grandparents Raising Grandchildren

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (USA)

Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (Florida, USA)

Help for Grandparents raising Grandchildren (USA)

Please view the communitybuilders discussion forum on this subject:

For further information

Contact	:	Margot Fitzpatrick, Grandparents Project Officer, COTA National Seniors
Address	:	Level 2, 3 Bowen Crescent, Melbourne Vic. 3004
Phone	:	Level 2, 3 Bowen Cre
Email	:	mfitzpatrick@cota.org.au