...problem that was selected to discuss and talk about is grandparents raising grandchildren. Today grandparents not only have to play the role as a grandparent but they too have to take on the task of being a parent as well. Grandparents do not sign up to be the care taker of their grandchild or grandchildren however when there is a dramatic change or transition in the life of the child and there is no other family member who can provide and care for the child the grandparent then will be the next of kin to care for them. Grandparents whom are raising their grandchildren is not something that is new and has been an epidemic for quite some time. Grandparents are playing role models to their grandchildren due to the circumstances and situations of their parents such as mental illness, substance abuse, incarceration and so many more reasons as to why the grandparents are raising their grandchildren. The paper will discuss the important facts that lead up to why it is a social problem with grandparents whom are raising their grandchildren. In the paper it will discuss how the grandparents age can play a major role in the raising the grandchildren and if something were to happen where would the children go and who would continue to care for them. Grandparents are important in children’s lives. The role that they play can help the child to progress and become something in life even with the absence of parents. Grandchildren who are active and want to...
Words: 4110 - Pages: 17
...Grandparents Raising Grandchildren Mary Ellen Garcia Liberty University Multicultural Issues in Human Services -509 Dr. Eva Straner Due: August, 2013 Abstract In the last thirty years, Grandparents have played a significant role in raising their grandchildren. Numerous changes have occurred that have required our current society to move in a familiar direction to care for children that would in other times have been placed in foster care homes. Research has shown that factors that include substance abuse, illness, child abuse, domestic violence, neglect, and death have put a greater challenge on Grandparents living arrangements. With the increase of divorce, the lack of child care, the demands placed on a single parent to enter the work force to financially support a household has also added to the increase of Grandparent participation in the raising of their grandchildren. In the past, Grandparents worked to support their families and looked forward to the day of their retirement and possible social activities of leisure. These goals have decreased significantly as Grandparents have had to take on the role of sole caregivers and active participates in raising their minor age grandchildren. Grandparents find that their age, income status, health limitations and the challenges with the children, affect their everyday life. The Legal System and Child Welfare Agencies rely on the next of kin to assist with immediate placements but have not included immediate legal ramifications...
Words: 1596 - Pages: 7
...Creating a Social Program Rosalind Harris HSM/240 August 21, 2010 Kevin Bottomley It is estimated that 1.3 million children are entrusted to their grandparents’ care everyday and that 2.4 million children live in households headed by a grandparent. This practice is one of tradition, especially in the African-American culture. Full-time care giving of grandchildren by grandparents is a growing national phenomenon (Moore & Miller, 2007). During this time, some grandparents experience stress and resentment for having to raise their children’s children. On the other hand, grandchildren experience emotional, behavior and academic problems at school (Edwards, Daire, 2006). This experience can be devastating for both grandparent and grandchild. With the assistance of the social program called “Grandma and Grandpa’s Hands”, Grandparents can learn how to cope with caring for grandchildren and grandchildren can receive assistance to enable them to improve their performance in school and to adjust to living in a loving environment where the grandparents are the guardian. The creation of this new social program will enable grandparents and grandchildren to appreciate this rewarding experience. The Social Problem The problems that this social program addresses is that different circumstances that place children in jeopardy such as the abandonment of child/children by the parent. In most cases, this is the result of a parent’s drug use, mental illness of a parent and divorce...
Words: 1926 - Pages: 8
...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...
Words: 898 - Pages: 4
...Claim January 31, 2009 GRANDPARENTS ASSUME NEW ROLE IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY In this assignment I am using the Concomitant Variation of analyzing. Grandparents take on the responsibility for their grandchildren with love, courage and determination that the children should have the best opportunities for healthy and happy lives. What is at stake here? Grandchildren living a normal, happy, and healthy life as did their grandparents. Although alcohol is the drug of choice among teenagers and young adults, drugs and alcohol are the main causes for children being placed with their grandparents. They turn to drugs and alcohol because of their desires to feel wanted and needed, the lack of attention given to them because of their economic situation, both parents having to work to make ends meet, parents divorcing because they can’t cope, feeling abandoned or that they are the cause of the divorce, young mothers sleeping around because of their abuse of alcohol and drugs and not knowing who the father is. This causes their children to loose the sense of what a family is all about. Most people have not paid attention to what causes a lot of this. They have enough problems to find solutions for without adding to them. Trauma, job market, low pay, few raises or promotions all are contributing factors. There is no way possible to completely control all of these factors. In the United States, the number of grandparents raising kids has climbed 30% since...
Words: 702 - Pages: 3
...grandfather but both are still living longer. Another change is the amount of grandchildren you are likely to have. In the 1900s you averaged 12.1 grandchildren versus the 6 or fewer grand children you would have in the 1990s Also it is more likely in black and Hispanic households to be raising your children while also being a grandparent. Grandparents whose children moved to another country are no able to see their grandchildren but if you live in the same country you are more likely to see and interact with your grandparents. Another factor of grand parenting is at what age you become one the younger you are the more active you are in the lives of your grandchildren. My grandfathers are both deceased and I have no distinct memories of either in my life as a child but I do remember when my mother’s father was starting to have alzheimer and the day of his funeral. My grandmothers are 20 years apart in age and I saw my younger grandma more as a child and as an adult than my other grandma. I love them both the same but I have more memories with one over the other. The Strengths of Apache Grandmothers In the American way of life grandparents are important but if they do not want to take a very active role in the lives of their grandchildren they don’t have to. In the American Indian way of life grandparents have a big responsibility and are expected to play a major role in the raising of their grandchildren. These grandmothers take on the role of caregiver and provider. If death...
Words: 692 - Pages: 3
...Children Raised by Custodial Grandparents? Nowadays more women have jobs and parents are busier with work than ever before. More grandparents become weekend helpers and help to co-parent their grandchildren; however, grandparents as custodial parents are special cases. The young child’s parents may be unable or unfit to perform their roles as parent due to drug abuse, AIDS or mental disorders. Although parents and grandparents all have love for the children in their life, are children raised by biological parents better than those who are raised by custodial grandparents? This is my research question for the essay. Some sociologists argue that because of the lack of existence of parents, children grow up with grandparents cannot have a real understanding what a family is, and these children usually perform not as good as children who grow up in a normal nuclear family. I concluded some main perspectives support that there are disadvantages of children raised by custodial grandparents; these include emotional disturbance, physical weakness, incapability, social barriers and higher chance of getting substance abuse. Emotional Disturbance Fist of all, children who live with their custodial grandparents might often question where did their parents go. When they start to understand and make sense of the world, their first impression is that their parents abandoned them. From Brown-Standridge, “Custodial grandchildren may try to push grandparents away since they feel others...
Words: 1965 - Pages: 8
...Most grandparents find the idea of being unable to see their grandchildren inconceivable. In actuality, however, thousands of grandparents have faced the loss of their visitation rights. Some have successfully negotiated, either in or out of court, for grandparent rights, including their right to see their grandchildren. Others have had to face the sad reality of going for years without the prospect of a visit. The concept of grandparents rights is relatively new and is the product of several factors. These factors include greater longevity, which has given many grandparents larger roles in their grandchildren’s lives, and a rising divorce rate, which in many cases has put those relationships in peril. Grandparents facing the loss of their visitation rights have sought legal relief from a patchwork of laws and legal precedents which vary greatly from location to location. In the United States, grandparents rights are governed primarily by state statute, but no less an authority than the U.S. Supreme Court has weighed in on the subject. State statutes on the subject of grandparent visitation rights vary from statutes considered to be permissive to those considered to be stringent. The Supreme Court case which applies to grandparenting visitation rights, Troxel v. Granville, involved a Washington State statute governing the rights of third parties to seek court-enforced visitation. Although the statute did not specifically mention grandparents, they were most likely to seek...
Words: 534 - Pages: 3
...Grandparent visitation rights did not exist more than forty years ago. Historically, grandparents had no legal right to visit their grandchild, only parents has authority to grant or deny the visitation. Until recently, visitation rights only applied to a child’s parents. Now states has created laws to govern the visitation rights of grandparents. These laws allow grandparents the legal right to visit their grandchildren. Each state has guidelines for granting visitation to grandparents. Many states’ visitation statute for grandparents contain provisions related to the best interest of the child, the treatment of a parent’s death and the effect of an adoption on grandparent visitation. Granting grandparents visitation rights allow grandparents to maintain contact with their grandchildren. There are two types of laws that exist for grandparents. Restrictive visitation only allows grandparents to seek visitation rights if the parents are divorced or if one or both of the parents has died. Permissive visitation allows a grandparent to request visitation even if both parents are still married or are still married. In permissive visitation the court will decided what is in the best interest of the child. Parents have a right under the constitution to makes decisions regarding raising their children, some states visitation laws has led to constitutional challenges. One of the challenges is Troxel v. Grandville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000) grandparents petitioned...
Words: 448 - Pages: 2
...approaches to influence them in raising their children to become well rounded adults in today’s world. This can also depend on the social and cultural demands that are felt at present. Psychologists have always been interested in how children are developed by parents and thus research has seen where children were raised in different environments can at a much later time in their lives grow up to have the same personalities, where there is also the fact of those that are raised in the same environment grow up to have different personalities. Baumrind’s four parenting styles have shown the different manner in which parents have contributed to their children development on their lives. In the Authoritarian parenting rules and regulations play a significant part in this style, parents expect their children to be focused and to follow the strict rules that are applied by the parents with little or no interference. Authoritative parenting still follows the rules and regulations part, but allows the parents to listen to their children and have a two way communication process. Permissive parenting makes little or no demands on children, punishment rarely happens; it is conducted more like a friend basis than a parent. Uninvolved parenting shows the parents non involvement in the child’s life, the child can basically do as he she pleases. The parent only provides the basic needs. Grandparents spend an adequate amount of time with their grandchildren and influence their lives as much...
Words: 748 - Pages: 3
...maintain positive emotional well-being even with all the adversities they had experienced, and this shows resilience (Bundy-Fazioli et al., 2013). Grandparents do have negative outcomes at times, but their ability to adapt and be flexible can be associated with resilient individuals (Bundy-Fazioli et al., 2013). Robinson and Wilks (2006) conducted a study with custodial grandparents to look at issues regarding being the caregiver of a grandchild. A sample size of 25 grandparents was obtained from a grandparents’ support groups, and qualitative data was obtained, and the themes found were generation gap, health concern, problems of discipline, and relationship strain with spouses (Robinson & Wilks, 2006). With the first area was the generation...
Words: 322 - Pages: 2
...categories. For example, a single parent family who lives in a larger, extended family. While these types of families are distinct in definition, in practice the lines are less clear. Nuclear Family The nuclear family is the traditional type of family structure. This family type consists of two parents and children. The nuclear family was long held in esteem by society as being the ideal in which to raise children. Children in nuclear families receive strength and stability from the two-parent structure and generally have more opportunities due to the financial ease of two adults. According to U.S. Census data, almost 70 percent of children live in a nuclear family unit. Single Parent Family The single parent family consists of one parent raising one or more children on his own. Often, a single parent family is a mother with her children, although there are single fathers as well. The single parent family is the biggest change society has seen in terms of the changes in family structures. One in four...
Words: 1732 - Pages: 7
...Injustice of Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program One injustice currently affecting my community, my family, and many other families throughout the state of Alabama is the Alabama Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program (PACT). Instead of maintaining a “college fund” savings account at the bank or investing in stocks or bonds, many parents and grandparents “were sold on PACT and its assurance that they were paying tomorrow’s tuition costs with today’s dollars” (White, 3). So, they “decided to play it safe with guaranteed tuition for their children and grandchildren when they reached college age with a plan that was backed by the State of Alabama” (White, 3). Now, those parents and grandparents who had the foresight to plan ahead and secure the future education of their children and grandchildren by sacrificing to purchase PACT Plans are being told that education is in jeopardy and is no longer guaranteed (White, 1). The Prepaid Affordable College Tuition Program was originally started in 1990 when then State Treasurer George Wallace, Jr. and Lt. Governor Jim Folsom, Jr. sold the Legislature on the idea. (Rawls, 1). The two-decade old PACT program allowed families to prepay tuition by buying contracts when their children were young. (Rawls, 3). The state invested much of the money that parents paid into the program in stocks to generate enough money to cover the cost of four-year tuition at a state university by the time the child finished high school...
Words: 1070 - Pages: 5
...was that the group of men were devoted and inspired to take on this role if he had past. The disadvantage devastation from the loss on the family. 5. The video discusses the idea of community or a sense of family in people who are not related. Why does Feiler argue that this is important? Feiler argues that it is important because it creates this feeling of an old community. 1. With aging populations, families may need to care for older family members. How might this affect the structure of the family? How this can affect the structure of a family would be it could cause more burden on a family if the younger parents have kids and then the grandparents come and live with them and could cause a burden. But at the same time the grandparents could help by watching the children and teaching them things since they have experience in raising children. 2. What are some of the factors that influence how older individuals are treated within a society? Factors that influence how older people are treated would be based on traditions of people. 3. What are the...
Words: 434 - Pages: 2
...Effect of Abuse on Society Family and Community Drug abuse is common in all societies. Families and communities are becoming less happy and rarely yet torn by death, or a serious injury due to drug abuse. Unfortunately, around the world and throughout time, drug abuse has shown to be common among families. Abuse of any kind takes over everything in the abusers life. Drug and alcohol abuse can affect a person’s capability to keep a job. Drug and alcohol not only affects the person itself but everyone around him or her especial their families and the community. People around the world believe that drugs or alcohol are the solution to their problems, not knowing the problem becomes worst and a nightmare is about to begin. Drug abuse negatively affects family’s communication and interaction. Whether the abuser is the parent or a child, communication and interaction maybe a major motive to lead a family member into abusing drugs as well as abusing drugs eventually will cause lack of communication and interaction within a family because the abuser is focused on the drug and his or her next high, rather than thinking about spending time with family. If drugs are involved in a family the communication is negative and the mood within siblings is often depressing (livestrong.com, 2011). Families, who live under this type of home environment, tend to pass the same lifestyle to the next generation, and it is prone for the children to repeat the same cycle of drug abuse...
Words: 1177 - Pages: 5
