Grandfamilies, or families in which grandparents are raising their grandchildren, often form due to adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) experienced by the grandchildren. ACEs have been linked to multiple negative short- and long-term behavioral and emotional consequences for children. Yet, having an ACE history does not guarantee negative outcomes, as protective factors such as positive relationships with a safe and caring adult, healthy family functioning, and utilization of formal services can mitigate the negative effects of ACEs. Researchers have regularly called on families to seek timely intervention and services for ACEs; however, many grandparents raising grandchildren report negative interactions with service providers as well as service delivery. Limited research has explored the extent to which grandfamilies with ACEs may have experienced similar interactions while seeking and using formal services. Guided by Andersen's (1995) Behavioral Model of Health Service Use, this qualitative study sought to explore (1) the service needs of grandchildren with an ACE history who are being raised by their grandparents; (2) the service needs of grandparents raising grandchildren with an ACE history; (3) the process of seeking services when grandparents raising a grandchild with an ACE history look for services for their grandchild; and (4) best practices for delivering services to grandfamilies with an ACE history. The research questions were primarily addressed through via interviewing 10 grandparents from Central Appalachia who were raising a grandchild with an ACE history and by conducting two focus groups of 8 to 12 formal service providers with experience working with grandparents raising grandchildren with an ACE history. Interview data were analyzed using grounded theory and focus group data were analyzed through thematic analysis. Study findings indicated that grandchildren have emotional and developmental needs. Grandparents described needs related to the emotional impact of raising a grandchild with an ACE history, family and parent involvement, and parenting a grandchild with an ACE history. Study results also highlighted how grandparents can expect to encounter barriers throughout the service seeking and delivery process. Study results also highlighted the critical nature of having a strong relationship with a service provider and the importance of a service provider reducing barriers, being attentive to grandfamily needs, and involving the grandparent in the treatment process. Finally, results from the focus groups revealed best practices such as providing grandparents with education on ACEs, being aware of intergenerational ACE cycles, and engaging in assessment and intervention when working with this population. Implications for clinical practice as well as directions for future research are discussed. / Doctor of Philosophy / Historically, grandparents have long been called upon to assist with caring for their grandchildren. In the last forty years, grandparents have increasingly shifted to a new role—that of parent. Grandfamilies are commonly created due to adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs, which can include child abuse, child neglect, or household challenges such as parental substance abuse or parental incarceration. Experiencing ACEs does not guarantee negative outcomes in a child's life, but their presence and number can affect it, particularly when a child has experienced numerous ACEs. Professional services or treatment are one way to support these children. However, negative interactions with service providers or unfulfilled expectations with service delivery can dissuade grandparents from continuing services. This study sought to understand how grandparents raising a grandchild with an ACE history identify the grandchild's needs, come to the realization that their grandchild needs professional help, the process and experience of receiving that professional help, as well as what happened after the grandchild received professional services. After interviewing 10 grandparents raising a grandchild with an ACE history, study findings revealed how grandparents identify grandchild needs, and then manage those needs as well as grandchild behaviors. Study findings also illustrated a recursive relationship between grandparents managing grandchild needs and building a relationship of trust with the formal service provider once services have started. Building a relationship of trust with a formal service provider can then result in creating change or the grandparent deciding to end services. Finally, grandparent interview data revealed that throughout the entire process of service seeking, grandparents raising a grandchild with an ACE history commonly experience barriers hindering their access to services including personal, availability, and systemic barriers. Finally, the study sought to understand best practices for working with grandparents raising grandchildren with an ACE history, which include assessing for and creating interventions targeting ACEs, providing education on ACEs to grandparents, and being aware of intergenerational ACE cycles with these families. Strategies for clinical practice are also identified.

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This study explores the experiences of Hispanic grandmothers who are parenting a second time around. This study looked at the strengths, needs, services, within their kinship arrangements. Child welfare workers could gain an in-depth understanding in cultural context that could influence their practice and service delivery.

Three psychosocial dynamics were assessed for their effect on role satisfaction among grandchildren: (1) the impact of expanding a household on a limited fixed income, (2) health issues of the grandparent as they apply to stamina, and (3) the interaction with their existing social structure to include grandchildren (adjustments, prioritizing, and social isolation). Sampling included a population of 33 custodial grandparents (age=55 and older; male and female; various ethnicities) and selected from a Grandparents Raising Grandchildren support group in Idyllwild, California. The instrument of this quantitative and qualitative study was an adaptation from the County of Riverside, Department of Mental Health, Children's Department Personal Satisfaction Survey. Survey answers were based on a Likert scale model. Responses from the surveys indicated that the custodial grandparents are satisfied with their roles. However, there are sufficient data to suggest there is a need to increase quality of life and custodial role satisfaction.

Studien syftade till att belysa vad socialsekreterare anser vara avgörande för beslutet att placera barn inom nätverket. Fem socialsekreterare på socialtjänstens enhet för barn och unga runt om i Sverige intervjuades i en kvalitativ intervjustudie. Den tematiska analysen visade att det saknas specifika riktlinjer för nätverksplacering men att man uttrycker sig ha ett nätverksorienterat arbetssätt, vilket i studien analyseras utifrån systemteori. Faktorer som avgör beslutet att placera barn inom nätverket visar sig vara bland annat, orsak till placering, nätverkets egenskaper och arbetsbelastning. Barn bedöms enligt socialsekreterarna inte ha förmåga att på grund av lojalitet till föräldrarna välja vart de ska placeras, vilket påverkar barns delaktighet i utredningen. Placering av barn inom nätverket visas vara ovanligt och det nätverksorienterade arbetet försvåras på grund av organisatoriska hinder. Resultatet visar att nätverksplacering är att föredra då både barn, föräldrar och socialsekreterare känner sig mer trygga än vid placering i främmande familjehem. / This study aims to highlight what social workers consider to be crucial for placement within network care. The study was conduted with qualitative interviews with five social workers at the social services in Sweden. The thematic analysis showed that there are no specific guidelines for network-oriented work but social workers nevertheless state that their mode of operation is network-oriented based on system theory. Factors that determine placement within network care are; reason for placement, network characteristics and workload. The study shows that children are not expected to be able to choose their placement due to loyalty to their parents and this affects children ́s participation in the investigation. Placement of children within network care appears unusual and network-oriented work is complicated due to organizational barriers. The result shows that preferred placement is within network care as both children, parents and social workers feel more secure compared to placement in foster care.

This study examined the delivery of information and services offered to grandparents who had become the primary caregivers of pre-k through third grade students to determine if the information and services were effective in decreasing chronic early absence as defined by Chang and Romero (2008). This mixed-method, multi-case study focused on the perceived needs of custodial grandparents and examined if the school system was meeting their needs through delivery of information and services. The researcher sought participation from 5 custodial grandparents who had grandchildren in pre-k, kindergarten, first, second, or third grades in a Northeast Tennessee school system and whose grandchildren had accumulated absences that met the definition of chronic early absenteeism (10% or more absences) as defined by Chang and Romero (2008). Skyward Database provided a list of families who met the aforementioned criteria. The average age of this group of grandparents was 51.8 with a range of ages from 48 to 54.The comparison group, also retrieved from the Skyward Database, included 4 custodial grandparents whose grandchildren had the highest attendance rates (top 5%). The average age of this group was 53 with a range of ages from 48 to 59. Researcher-developed questionnaires and interviews were used to determine outcomes and major findings. [a1] Major findings included 1) A Chi Squared Test determined that children in grandparent-led households were significantly more likely to meet the criteria of chronic early absence than children from parent/other guardian-led households; 2) 100% of grandparents in both groups had not heard of chronic early absence, 33% of teachers had not heard of chronic early absence, and 50% of Family Resource Center Staff had not heard of chronic early absence; 3) 47% of grandparent-led households met the criteria of chronic early absence while only 18% of parent/other guardian-led households met criteria of chronic early absence; 4) 0% of the parents were involved in the child’s life or education in the grandparent-led households while 50% of the parents were involved in the child’s life or education in parent/other guardian-led households; 5) 20% of children in grandparent-led households with chronic early absence had disciplinary actions while 100% of children in grandparent-led households with high attendance had significant disciplinary actions; and 6) Sickness was the primary reason for absences in grandparent-led families with chronic early absence; 7) A majority of grandparents in both groups used verbal communication with teachers and school staff, but written communication was preferred by each group.

This study examined the support services offered to kinship providers through the Kinship Family Center and find ways to increase and/or improve these support services for kinship care providers who are caring for children that are dependents of San Bernardino County.

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 this practice-based research the use of attachment assessments to assist with decision-making about the placement of children in State care is explored. In Aotearoa New Zealand care and protection legislation emphasises the importance of working with families. The central decision-making forum is the Family Group Conference where families, their support people and statutory social workers come together to work out a plan for children considered to be in need of care and protection. This research focused on conflicted situations where agreement could not be reached about where children should live. The research was structured around one over-arching objective: the examination of a specific aspect of practice, namely the use of attachment assessments in decision-making, with a view to identifying elements of best practice. Within this were three other objectives: an exploration of the impact of attachment assessments on decision-making processes; an exploration of the experience of participants in this process; and an examination of perceived outcomes for children who have an assessment completed. In order to achieve these objectives the historical and cultural context influencing these decision-making processes was explored; the theoretical framework underpinning the use of attachment assessments was critically examined; recent literature on children�s experience in foster care was reviewed; the role of assessment in decision-making was explored; and the use of attachment assessments was evaluated from the perspective of social work practitioners. The outcomes of this research indicate that attachment assessments are theoretically sound processes, which provide relevant information that facilitates decision-making in conflicted situations and the achievement of positive outcomes for children. It was, however, found that attachment assessments have an indirect influence by providing a pivotal point in the decision-making process rather than a direct impact. A number of variables influencing outcomes for children were identified and explored: availability of suitable placements; management of contact with birth family; provision of support networks including attention to ongoing cultural connectedness; and support through adolescence. Children�s absence from participation in decision-making was highlighted. I conclude with an outline of guidelines for best practice.