Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T13:36:13.840Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Surviving Intervention: Grandparents’ Struggle to Maintain Relationships with their Grandchildren Following Contact with Child Protection Services

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2015

Erin Rigby ,
Susan Gair  and
Ros Thorpe
Erin Rigby
Affiliation:
Social Work, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia
Susan Gair*
Affiliation:
Social Work, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia
Ros Thorpe
Affiliation:
Social Work, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia
*
address for correspondence: Susan Gair, Associate Professor, Social Work, College of Arts, Society and Education, James Cook University, Queensland, Australia. Phone: 61 7 4781 4892. E-mail: Susan.Gair@jcu.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Grandparents play an important role in families, contributing to the maintenance of intergenerational relationships. Recent literature has identified increased incidence of grandparents raising their grandchildren, often after family breakdown. Less evident is the literature highlighting Australian grandparents’ experiences of reduced or lost contact with their grandchildren. Lost contact can result from many factors including family disputes, separation or divorce of adult children, or children being taken into State care. The primary aim of the Honours research project reported here, a component of a larger project, was to explore the lived experiences of Queensland grandparents who had reduced, lost or denied contact with their grandchildren after contact with child protection services. In recent years, almost 8000 Queensland children have reportedly been living in out-of-home care arrangements annually. In this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were conducted with a sample of seven (7) grandparents. An emerging key theme was that grandchildren were very important to grandparents, but that grandparents struggled to maintain contact with their grandchildren after families came to the attention of child protection authorities. These findings can help inform social work practice with families for the wellbeing of both grandparents and grandchildren.

Keywords

grandparentsgrandchildrenstate carechild protectionlost contact
Type
Articles
Information
Children Australia , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , June 2016 , pp. 98 - 105
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Atkinson, J. (2002). Trauma trails. Recreating song lines. The transgenerational effects of trauma in Indigenous Australia. North Melbourne: Spinifex Press.Google Scholar
Australian Human Rights Commission. (1997). Bringing Them Home: The Stolen Children Report. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-stolen-children-report-1997.Google Scholar
Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). (2012). Respect and choice. A human rights approach for ageing and health. Canberra: AHRC.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Family Studies Child and Family Community Australia. (2014, November). Child Protection and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children. Retrieved from https://aifs.gov.au/cfca/publications/child-protection-and-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-c.Google Scholar
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2015). Child protection Australia 2013–14. Canberra, ACT: AIHW.Google Scholar
Bessarab, D., & Crawford, F. (2013). Trauma, grief and loss: The vulnerability of Aboriginal families in the child protection system. In Bennett, B., Green, S., Gilbert, S., & Bessarab, D. (Eds.), Our voices. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social work (pp. 93–113). Victoria: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Boss, P. (2002). Ambiguous loss in families of the missing. Lancet, 360 (Suppl. 1), S39–S41.Google Scholar
Boss, P. (2004). Ambigious loss: Working with families of the missing. Family Process, 41 (1), 14–17.Google Scholar
Bridges, L. J., Roe, A. E. C., Dunn, J., & O’ Connor, T. G. (2007). Children's perspectives on their relationships with grandparents following parental separation: A longitudinal study. Social Development, 16 (3), 539–554.Google Scholar
Cass, B. (2007). Exploring social care: Applying a new construct to young carers and grandparent carers. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 42 (2), 241–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connor, S. (2006). Grandparents raising grandchildren: Formation, disruption, and intergenerational transmission of attachment. Australian Social Work, 59 (2), 172–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, C. (2014). Personal and community empowerment for grandparent caregivers. Journal of Family Social Work, 17 (2), 162–174, doi: 10.1080/10522158.2014.880824.Google Scholar
Creswell, J.W. (2009). Research design qualitative, quantitative, and mixed approaches. (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Dadds, M. (2008). Empathetic validity in practitioner research. Educational Action Reserach, 16 (2), 279–290.Google Scholar
Drew, L., & Silverstein, M. (2007). Grandparents’ psychological well-being after loss of contact with their grandchildren. Family Psychology, 21 (3), 372–379.Google Scholar
Family Law Act. (1975). Section 60B (2) (a). Retrieved from http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/consol_act/fla1975114/.Google Scholar
Gair, S. (2012). Feeling their stories: Contemplating empathy, insider/outsider debates and enriching qualitative research. Qualitative Health Research, 22 (1), 134–143.Google Scholar
Gladstone, J. W., & Brown, R. A. (2007). Grandparents’ and social workers’ experiences with the child welfare system: A case for mutual resources. Children and Youth Services Review, 29 (11), 1439–1453.Google Scholar
Goodman, C.C., & Silverstein, M. (2001). Grandmothers who parent their grandchlidren: An exploratory study of close relations across three generations. Family Issues, 22 (5), 557–578.Google Scholar
Healy, K. (2005). Social work theories in context: Creating frameworks for practice. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Horner, B., Downie, J., Hay, D., & Wichmann, H. (2007). Grandparent-headed families in Australia. Family Matters, 76 (76), 77–84.Google Scholar
Ife, J. (2008). Human rights and social work. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Kiraly, M., James, J., & Humphreys, C. (2015). “It's a family responsibility”: Family and cultural connection for Aboriginal children in Kinship care. Children Australia, 40 (1), 23–32.Google Scholar
Kivett, V. R. (1991). The grandparent-grandchild connection. Marriage and Family Review, 16 (3–4), 267–290.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kruk, E. (1995). Grandparent-grandchild contact loss: Findings from a study of “grandparent rights” members. Canadian Journal on Aging, 14 (4), 737–754.Google Scholar
Lever, K., & Wilson, J. J. (2005). Encore parenting: When grandparents fill the role of primary caregivers. The Family Journal: Counselling and Therapy for Couples and Families, 13 (2), 167–171.Google Scholar
Liamputtong, P. (Ed.). (2007). Researching the vulnerable: A guide to sensitive research methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
Lynn, R., Thorpe, R., Miles, D., Cutts, C., Butcher, A., & Ford, L. (1998). Murri way! Townsville: Centre for Social Research James Cook University.Google Scholar
Mahne, K., & Huxhold, O. (2012). Social contact between grandparents and older grandchildren. In Arber, S. & Timonen, V. (Eds.), Contemporary grandparenting (pp. 225–246). London: Policy Press.Google Scholar
McCashen, W. (2010). The strengths approach. Victoria: St Lukes Innovative Resources.Google Scholar
Minkler, M., & Fuller-Thomson, E. (1999). The health of grandparents raising grandchildren: Results of a national study. American Journal of Public Health, 89 (9), 1384–1389.Google Scholar
Mullaly, B. (2002). Challenging oppression. Ontario: Oxford.Google Scholar
Neuman, L. (2011). Social research methods (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Parkes, C.M. (1986). Bereavment: Studies of grief in adult life. London: Penguin.Google Scholar
Poehlmann, J. (2003). An attachment perspective on grandparents raising their very young grandchildren: Implications for intervention and research. Infant Mental Health, 24 (2), 149–173.Google Scholar
Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry. (2013). Brisbane: The State of Queensland Child Protection Commission of Inquiry. Discussion Paper. Retrieved from http://www.childprotectioninquiry.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/175248/QCPCI_Discussion_paper.pdf.Google Scholar
Queensland Child Protection Act. (1999). Retrieved from https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/legisltn/current/c/childprotecta99.pdf.Google Scholar
Queensland Living Away from Home Report. (2014). Queensland government. Retrieved from https://www.legislation.qld.gov.au/LEGALTN/CURRENT/C/ChildProtectA99.pdf.Google Scholar
Saleebey, D. (2002). The strengths perspective in social work practice (3rd ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Tew, J. (2006). Understanding power and powerlessness towards a framework for emancipatory practice in social work. Journal of Social Work, 6 (1), 33–51.Google Scholar
Triseliotis, J., Feast, J., & Kyle, F. (2005). The adoption triangle revisited. London: British Association for Adoption and Fostering.Google Scholar
Turner, J. (2011). Grandparents family law information guide. (3rd ed.). Family Law Reform Assoication NSW. Retrieved from http://accsa.org.au/wp-content/uploads2013/02/Grandparents-Family-Law-Guide.pdf.Google Scholar