Surviving intervention: grandparents' struggle to maintain relationships with their grandchildren following contact with child protection services

Rigby, Erin, Gair, Susan, and Thorpe, Ros (2016) Surviving intervention: grandparents' struggle to maintain relationships with their grandchildren following contact with child protection services. Children Australia, 41 (2). pp. 98-105.

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View at Publisher Website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/cha.2015.51
 
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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.

Item ID: 41562
Item Type: Article (Research - C1)
ISSN: 2049-7776
Keywords: grandparents, grandchildren, state care, child protection, lost contact
Funders: Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW)
Date Deposited: 10 Dec 2015 03:22
FoR Codes: 44 HUMAN SOCIETY > 4409 Social work > 440901 Clinical social work practice @ 100%
SEO Codes: 92 HEALTH > 9202 Health and Support Services > 920201 Allied Health Therapies (excl. Mental Health Services) @ 100%
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