Providing a fairer future for grandchildren

Opportunity

International research has shown that grandparents are increasingly taking on a primary care role for their grandchildren [1, 2]. This is consistent with Australian trends, which show that kinship care is the fastest growing form of care nationally [3]. When grandparents take on the role of primary carers of their grandchildren, while it reduces the cost for the community, which would otherwise be responsible for placing the child in non-kin households [4], various studies have shown that it is associated with negative physical and mental health outcomes for the grandparents [1]. Through its work with carers, Wanslea identified that baseline research was needed in WA to understand the impact on grandparent carers, particularly the potential differences between formal (legal custody) and informal primary carer roles.

Approach

The research project proposed by Wanslea aimed to:

• Develop a better understanding of the impact on the mental, physical, social, and financial health of grandparent carers.
• Identify the gaps and opportunities in the service and policy systems.
• Examine the shared and different experiences of formal and informal grandparent carers.

Surveys were undertaken of grandparent carers to collect information on family structure, culture, family conflict, service barriers, grandparenting issues, health status and food security. Curtin University assisted in a service and policy mapping exercise to review legislative settings and conducted interviews and focus groups with key stakeholders and frontline service providers. With assistance from Edith Cowan University, Wanslea conducted leadership camps for grandchildren, with interviews and focus groups to assess outcomes from the grandchildren and grandparents’ perspectives.

Impacts and outcomes

Research showed that these carers were worse off in all key health indicators compared to their peers. It also highlighted the overlap between alcohol and drug use, mental health and family domestic violence as factors contributing to children being cared for by grandparents.

The study highlighted that the role of grandparent carers could lead to poverty or exacerbate it and cause a deterioration in the social, physical, and mental health of grandparent carers. Service access was often found to be complicated and inequitable, especially for informal carers, due to their lack of legal recognition. Aboriginal grandparent carers have specific issues relating to accessing services and poverty, while also being able to receive more support from their social network and derive a higher degree of satisfaction from their carer role. Finally, the role of grandparent carers sits at the intersection between trauma, love, and joy, as the love they feel for their grandchildren confronts the trauma that caused the child to enter their care.

As a result of the research, Wanslea, in conjunction with Grandparents Raising Grandchildren WA, has developed a call to action with a suite of evidence-based recommendations for the State and Federal Governments, service providers and the wider WA community to address the needs of grandparent carers.

What worked

Proactively engaging with Aboriginal grandparents

Katie Bennell, an Aboriginal researcher at Wanslea, was able to build relationships with Aboriginal grandparent carers to ensure their experience was reflected in the research. Through this work, 25 per cent of respondents were Aboriginal and, given the over-representation of Aboriginal children in care, it was important that their voices were heard. Many of these grandparent-led families were also over-represented in statistics that relate to poverty, access to mainstream services, housing issues and children with disabilities. The researcher worked from an appropriate cultural perspective that “opened doors” and enabled much richer data.

Collaborative knowledge building

Research effectively combined academic rigour with the sector expertise of Wanslea and the direct voices of grandparent carers. The concept of working collaboratively with the two universities and led by a community-based organisation demonstrates there is a place for qualitative research. The stories of the participants add powerful context and humanity to the statistics. Wanslea’s almost 20 years’ experience working with grandparent carers provided direction for the research questions, the methodology and strategies for data collection. As a “known” entity, the participants were more willing to engage than perhaps if engagement was primarily with an academic. Working with the universities gave credibility to the findings, provided independent rigour and different interpretations that can be used in wider contexts. Using the expertise of staff from two universities brought shared views from different starting points – collaboration at work.

Key challenges

Working with an Aboriginal researcher from the start

One thing Wanslea learned was to bring the Aboriginal researcher on board from the beginning as this was a game changer for the course of the research project.

REFERENCES

1. Hadfield, J.C., The health of grandparents raising grandchildren: A literature review. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 2014. 40(4): p. 32-42.
   
   
2. Sampson, D. and K. Hertlein Ph D, The experience of grandparents raising grandchildren. Grandfamilies: The contemporary journal of research, practice and policy, 2015. 2(1): p. 4.
   
   
3. Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, Child protection Australia 2019–20, in Child welfare series. 2021, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare: Canberra.
   
   
4. Williams, M.N., The changing roles of grandparents raising grandchildren. Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, 2011. 21(8): p. 948-962.