The placement of children in alternative care has become a critical challenge facing the nation. Established systems of care are unable to meet the increasing burden of caring for these children and to date extended family care is the most prevalent form of care for orphan and vulnerable children. Looking specifically at the prevalence of grandparent-headed households, this study focuses on the wellbeing and development of children who are placed in the care of their grandparents.The primary aim of the current study is to explore resilience in children raised by their grandparents. Central to the core of resilience in children is identifying elements that detract from their health and wellbeing (risk factors), while understanding those factors that moderate risk to their development (protective factors). A systematic review of existing literature was undertaken with the secondary aim of informing practice and policy regarding the care and placement of children in South Africa. Each primary study included in this review was appraised against best practice standards and salient themes and factors were extracted. The data was synthesized, integrated and applied to the context of child care policy in South Africa. Twelve themes emerged from the systematic review. With regards to protective processes, four broad themes emerged which were consistent with factors identified in literature in the development of resilience. These included a positive relationship with a caregiver, parenting style, providing a sense of continuity and belonging and the stability this placement offers. The remaining eights themes, related to risk factors were financial instability, relationship difficulties with their caregiver, intergenerational differences between grandparent and grandchild, poor caregiver health and wellbeing, ill-discipline and rigid parenting styles, educational difficulties,adverse past experiences of children and emotional difficulties. Based on these emergent themes, policy and intervention-focused recommendations were put forth with the aim of strengthening the capacity of grandparent-headed families to protect and care for orphans and vulnerable children.

With three homogenous caregiver groups (i.e., Alzheimer's caregivers, grandparents raising grandchildren, parents), caregiving styles were explored to determine their reliability and validity, their unique role in predicting caregiver outcomes, and their differences between groups of caregivers. A conceptual framework was adapted to determine the impact of contextual variables, caregiving styles, caregiver appraisal, and mediating variables on caregiving outcomes. A more concise version of the Caregiving Style Scale (CSS) was developed with 49 items yielding an internal consistency coefficient of .74. As expected, three caregiving styles emerged and were positively related to the parallel parenting styles. Across the caregiver samples, there were positive relationships among caregiving style dimensions within the same caregiving style, while those from opposing caregiving styles tended to have negative relationships indicating good convergent and discriminant validity. Authoritative caregiving style dimensions were generally associated with healthier functioning, while authoritarian and permissive caregiving style dimensions were correlated with less healthy functioning. Caregiving style dimensions were among the predictors of several outcome measures, highlighting the importance of their placement in the conceptual framework for caregiver stress and coping. Generally, an unexpected finding was that authoritative caregiving style dimensions tended to predict less adaptive caregiving outcomes, particularly for parents and grandparents, while the impact upon caregiver well-being by authoritarian caregiving style dimensions varied throughout the caregiver groups. Results further indicated that different groups of caregivers tend to take on different caregiving styles, with grandparents and parents tending to differ significantly from Alzheimer's caregivers in their approaches to caregiving.

English: The increase in grandparents who take on the role of raising their grandchild has incited a growth in research, specifically on how this population is able to accomplish such an important responsibility at the later years of their life. However, not much is known about grandparents who are raising grandchild with a congenital disability. Grandparents may take on this role as either a co-parent or as a sole parent out of obligation towards their grandchild and their family. Grandparents from low socio-economic settings with corresponding challenging family and environmental circumstances are a particularly vulnerable group. As a result, these grandparents may experience heightened levels of stress, lower levels of well-being and increased social isolation, which may have a negative influence on their grandchild’s developmental outcomes. This thesis will focus on a study undertaken that aimed to explore the relationships between stress, well-being and the perceived needs for and helpfulness of available social support of grandparents raising their grandchild with a congenital disability. A total of 50 sole-parenting and co-parenting grandparents from various areas in the Western Cape took part in this adapted survey design in the form of structured interviews. An expected inverse relationship was found between caregiving stress and well-being. A further expected positive relationship was found between the grandparents’ perceived needs for types of support and their well-being, and, as hypothesised, an inverse relationship was identified between the grandparents’ perceived need for types of support and their stress. With further analysis, perceived need for types of support positively mediated the stress and well-being. Together with its clinical implications, this study also provides understanding regarding the implications of applying measures devised on foreign populations to the current South African context. / Afrikaans: Die toename in grootouers wat hul kleinkinders grootmaak, het gelei tot ’n groei in navorsing, spesifiek oor die wyse waarop hierdie populasie in staat is om so ’n belangrike en verantwoordelike rol op hul ouderdom te vervul. Daar is egter nie veel bekend oor grootouers wat kleinkinders met ’n aangebore gestremdheid grootmaak nie. Grootouers vervul hierdie rol óf as ’n mede-ouer, óf as ’n alleenouer, uit verpligting teenoor hul kleinkind en hul familie. Grootouers uit lae sosio-ekonomiese agtergronde, met ooreenstemmende uitdagings ten opsigte van familie- en omgewingsomstandighede, is veral ’n weerlose groep. Die resultaat hiervan is dat sodanige grootouers verhoogde stresvlakke, laer welstandsvlakke en verhoogde sosiale isolasie mag ervaar, wat kan lei tot ’n negatiewe uitwerking op hul kleinkinders se ontwikkelingsuitkomste. Hierdie studie verken die verhoudings tussen stres, welstand en die waargenome behoeftes na beskikbare maatskaplike ondersteuning (en of hierdie ondersteuning van waarde is) vir die grootouers wat hul kleinkind met ’n aangebore gestremdheid grootmaak. ’n Totaal van 50 grootouers (alleen- of mede-ouers) vanuit verskeie gebiede in die Wes-Kaap het deelgeneem aan hierdie aangepaste meningsopname-ontwerp in die vorm van gestruktureerde onderhoude. ’n Verwagte inverse verhouding tussen versorgerstres en welstand is bevind. ’n Verdere verwagte positiewe verhouding is bevind tussen die grootouers se waargenome behoeftes na tipes ondersteuning en hul welstand en, soos veronderstel, is ’n inverse verhouding geïdentifiseer tussen die grootouer se waargenome behoeftes na tipes ondersteuning en hul stres. Met verdere analise, het waargenome behoeftes na tipes ondersteuning, die verhouding tussen stres en welstand, positief met bemiddeling. Tesame met die kliniese implikasies, verskaf hierdie studie ook begrip rakende die implikasies van die toepassing van maatreëls wat ontwerp is vir populasies wat nie met die huidige Suid-Afrikaanse konteks ooreenstem nie. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2019. / Centre for Augmentative and Alternative Communication (CAAC) / PhD / Unrestricted

Magister Artium (Child and Family Studies) - MA(CFS) / Kinship foster care in South Africa, whereby orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC) are being cared for by their biological relatives, is increasing. The significant increase in kinship foster care has a strong correlation to the high rates of HIV/AIDS-related deaths, resulting in a high prevalence of children who are vulnerable and orphaned. Social workers are mandated to seek alternative care placements for such OVC, prioritising kinship care as opposed to foster care with non-biological families. However, such kinship foster care, in which children are likely to be placed in the care of their grandparents, as common practice in South Africa, is not without challenges relating to family dynamics, especially when foster children become teenagers.

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes of youth toward each of their individual grandparents. The subjects were students ranging in age from 12-19 years with the majority being between 14-17 years of age. These students were enrolled in a release time religious class that allowed them one hour a day off campus to take a seminary course. The sample of data consisted of 148 girls and 108 boys, which was approximately 25% of the high school population. The youth were from a small northern Utah community. The average age of the youth respondents was 16.2 years. This group of youth came from intact families with 90.1% who lived in a family where father and mother were together. The questionnaire consisted of 35 questions of which 16 questions were used to develop an attitude scale used to answer 10 research questions. Younger adolescents (age 12-14 years) had a better attitude toward grandparents than older adolescents (age 17-19 years). Evidence supported previous literature that male youth were emotionally closer than females to their grandfathers. However, no significance was found to support previous literature that female youth are closer to grandmothers. Overall, adolescents reported feeling emotionally closer to maternal grandparents. The favored grandparent was the maternal grandmother. Paternal grandfathers with a higher education level were looked upon more favorably by the youth. Youth attitudes toward maternal grandfathers were significantly less positive when the grandfathers were described as often sick and activity slowed by sickness or age. When the youth responded favorably towards one grandparent, the spouse of the grandparent was also given a favorable response. The youth seemed to have a positive overall attitude towards grandparents; however, when it comes to being disciplined by their grandparents, most youth expressed uncertainty to the question, "Should my grandparents discipline me?" The social science computer package (SPSS) was used to analyze the data and reach the above mentioned conclusions.

Masters of Art / Nandi, Java and Uuka are students at a Cape Town university, where they are enrolled in a film making course. Adela, their lecturer, will supervise their screenplay and film on a story which depicts the experience of the loss of land in South Africa. They are however also deeply involved in student protests for free university education for all. When the #feesmustfall protests reach a deadlock at their university and the university is temporarily closed, they decide to leave for the Eastern Cape to look for a story. There they stay with Uuka’s grandparents and spend their time trying to understand the family history and the family’s ownership of land, as well as the broader history of land dispossession. They do not only discover more about Uuka’s ancestors and about distant history, but also about themselves. As the characters delve more deeply into the past in their search for a story for a screenplay, the margins between their own stories and the screenplay shift and merge, as do the forms of novel and screenplay

As the structure of the American family changes, it is becoming more common for children to be raised by their grandparents. In fact, over the past 40 years, there has been a 50% increase in grandparent-headed homes in the US (Ellis and Simmons, 2014). Custodial grandparents, who provide primary caregiving responsibilities for their grandchildren, often become responsible for their grandchildren due to distressing situations and report many social-emotional, physical, and psychological difficulties (e.g., Hayslip and Kaminski, 2005). Additionally, children of custodial grandparents have been found to have significantly more emotional and behavioral problems than non-custodial grandchildren (Smith and Palmieri, 2007). The main parenting resource for this population is often support-groups, which often do not provide needed assistance with discipline and behavior management. The overall purpose of this study was to adapt Parent Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) to custodial grandparents, using a consumer-oriented approach. The study was completed in three discrete stages. During Stage 1, qualitative interviews with custodial grandparents were completed to collect further information about custodial grandparents' experience parenting their grandchildren, use of parenting resources, and opinion of parenting strategies and PCIT. Findings from this stage indicated that custodial grandparents were amenable to PCIT procedures, but experienced significant barriers in accessing parenting services. Due to these barriers, a service delivery adaptation was developed and an online intervention was created (Stage 2) to transcend treatment barriers. Finally, during Stage 3, this online intervention was tested in a small single-subject design pilot study. Multiple metrics supported the feasibility, accessibility, satisfaction, and initial treatment efficacy of this intervention. All participants demonstrated clinically significant reductions in at least two symptom measures and reported satisfaction with the online intervention. Overall, results provide preliminary support for the use of online interventions to teach PCIT strategies and support future research on online interventions for this population. / Ph. D.

The occurrence of custodial grandparents is increasing greatly. These grandparents face added stress and many adversities that arise from caregiving. Findings of current research tends to be mixed on the effects of grandparents raising grandchildren experience. Much research concludes that grandparent caregivers experience negative declines in overall health and well-being, while other research points out that the caregiving role may actually be a positive experience for the grandparent. The current study hypothesizes that mixed research may be a result of varying levels of resilience in the custodial grandparent population. The model proposed in this study looks at resilience as a mediator between several variables that effect custodial grandparenting. The current sample consisted of 239 custodial grandparents. A regression/correlation analysis was conducted on the data, and it was found that resilience levels were significant in mediating the effects of grandparent caregiving.

In many Western societies grandparents take on the role of occasional or short-term care providers of their grandchildren. However, recent years have witnessed a significant increase, both in Australia and overseas, in the number of children being raised by their grandparents due to the inability of the children’s parents to effectively meet their parenting responsibilities.This study is an interpretive inquiry that seeks to understand the meanings grandparents attach to their experiences of the grandparent-as-parent role, rather than the traditional grandparent role. The study also investigates how assuming the non-traditional grandparent role has influenced the identity of grandparent caregivers. A narrative inquiry approach was employed to ‘hear the voices’ of 34 grandparents who were raising their grandchildren in NSW, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with each of the participants and their narratives were subsequently analysed through the lens of identity theory.Findings from the study reveal that grandparents experience a significant degree of roleidentity conflict in their grandparent-as-parent role. The loss of their traditional grandparent role, together with the shift in commitment to the grandparent-as-parent role, has resulted in a ‘space of difference’ between the ‘ideal’ and the ‘real’ of being a grandparent. This ‘space of difference’ is made up of a series of binary experiences described as myth/reality, visible/invisible, deserving/undeserving, voice/silenced, included/excluded, which appear to have consequentially impacted grandparents’ selfesteem and self-verification processes. The study posits that grandparents lack adequate support, or doulia, resulting in a prevailing belief that their commitment to the grandparentas- parent role is not publicly acknowledged nor afforded the justice it deserves.The study concludes that both policy and practice in NSW have failed to recognise and address the complexity of experience, or the ‘space of difference’ occupied by grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and provides a number of recommendations in response to the grandparent experiences narrated through this research.

In many Western societies grandparents take on the role of occasional or short-term care providers of their grandchildren. However, recent years have witnessed a significant increase, both in Australia and overseas, in the number of children being raised by their grandparents due to the inability of the children’s parents to effectively meet their parenting responsibilities.This study is an interpretive inquiry that seeks to understand the meanings grandparents attach to their experiences of the grandparent-as-parent role, rather than the traditional grandparent role. The study also investigates how assuming the non-traditional grandparent role has influenced the identity of grandparent caregivers. A narrative inquiry approach was employed to ‘hear the voices’ of 34 grandparents who were raising their grandchildren in NSW, Australia. In-depth interviews were conducted with each of the participants and their narratives were subsequently analysed through the lens of identity theory.Findings from the study reveal that grandparents experience a significant degree of roleidentity conflict in their grandparent-as-parent role. The loss of their traditional grandparent role, together with the shift in commitment to the grandparent-as-parent role, has resulted in a ‘space of difference’ between the ‘ideal’ and the ‘real’ of being a grandparent. This ‘space of difference’ is made up of a series of binary experiences described as myth/reality, visible/invisible, deserving/undeserving, voice/silenced, included/excluded, which appear to have consequentially impacted grandparents’ selfesteem and self-verification processes. The study posits that grandparents lack adequate support, or doulia, resulting in a prevailing belief that their commitment to the grandparentas- parent role is not publicly acknowledged nor afforded the justice it deserves.The study concludes that both policy and practice in NSW have failed to recognise and address the complexity of experience, or the ‘space of difference’ occupied by grandparents who are raising their grandchildren, and provides a number of recommendations in response to the grandparent experiences narrated through this research.