December 16, 2011 led to a wonderful bond and an unexpected change in my life. My son and his girlfriend were young parents, barely 17 years old, I ended up providing everything my granddaughter needed from the moment she was born. After living with me for 20 months in a moment of rage my son and his girlfriend took my granddaughter in the middle of the night and left without a trace. Typically, a grandparent was the one that spoiled the grandchildren and then sent them home with the parents. Now they have to take on the role of parent when the child’s parents are incapable or disinclined to parent sufficiently (Administration for Children And Familie, Region IV). “According to the 2005 American Communities Survey, there are an estimated 5.7 million grandparents living with grandchildren in their households; 2.4 million co-resident grandparents are the primary caregivers for their grandchildren, representing 42% of all grandparents residing with their grandchildren (Administration for Children And Familie, Region IV).” The reasons grandparents are raising their grandchildren is because of the increase in financial inability, parental drug addictions, and adolescent single mothers. It takes a lot of money to provide everything a child needs and with cost of living increasing parents often times can no longer provide for their children this leads to the grandparents offering financial support. “The economy has also played a role. The rate of unemployment among workers ages 22 to 34 is double that of 55- to 64-year-olds (Facciolo).” The decrease income could be from several factors; unemployment rates have increased, cost of living has increased, divorce, drug use, or even mental illness (Child Welfare Information Gateway... ... middle of paper ... ...m/blog/matter-personality/201106/grandparents-raising-grandchildren>. Facciolo, Christine. "More than 2.5 million grandparents take on role of parent." The (Wilmington, Del.) News Journal. Wilmington, 12 April 2012. Article. 31 October 2013. . NCBI. "Grandparents Raising Grandchildren." U.S. Library National Library. 2009. 2013. . Office on Child Abuse and Neglect, Children's Bureau., ICF International. Protecting Children in Families Affected by Substance Use Disorders. 2009. 8 November 2013. . U.S. Census Bureau. "Grandparents." Profile America Facts for features. Newsroom, 2010. 27 October 2013. .
Mills, Terry L., Zenta Gomez-Smith and Jessica M. De Leon. "Skipped Generation Families: Sources of Psychological Distress Among Grandmothers of Grandchildren Who Live in Homes Where Neither Parent Is Present." Marriage & Family Review 37.1-2 (2005): 191-212. Web. 18 July 2014.
The concerned camp believes that families are in decline due to the rapid changes that have happened in the past 25 years. Unprecedented levels of divorce, people having babies while not married, and also teenagers having babies have hurt families and quite possibly led into hunger. The concerned camp also believes that families have the most influence on the character and competence of children and adults (Bronfenbrenner, 1986). The concerned camp values parental commitment, marital fidelity, individual responsibility, and civic participation. They also believe that individualism overshadows or threatens these values. The concerned camp believes happiness is due to relatedness to others, investments in family, and commitments to the community. Evidence that supports the concerned camp is that many Americans are very concerned about the state of families and the well-being of children. They also believe that it is very important to be concerned about how the next generation is raised because they will be the future parents, workers, and citizens. They believe that our prosperity depends on investing in childrearing. In addition, the concerned camp...
Hayslip, B.,Jr, & Kaminski, P. L. (2005). Grandparents raising their grandchildren: A review of the literature and suggestions for practice. The Gerontologist, 45(2), 262-9. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/211017012?accountid=13158
Recently there has been a change in the dynamic of the family structure in American. For serval reasons parents are unable to take care of their children. This leads them to rely on their parents for support. Grandparents are now aiding their families by becoming custodial grandparents, which is another name to address a grandparent that has become the primary caregiver of a child. This is different from the traditional grandparent role where an older adult is active in their child and grandparents lives but not to the point where they have taken over the parent role. For this paper will focus on those assuming the primary role of a custodial grandparent.The number of Grandparents that have taken on this responsibility has increased
Although single parenthood is on the rise in homes today, children still often have a father role in their life. It does not matter who the part is filled by: a father, uncle, older brother, grandfather, etc...; in almost all cases, those relationships between the father (figure) and child have lasting impacts on the youth the rest of their lives. In “I Wanted to Share My Father’s World,” Jimmy Carter tells the audience no matter the situation with a father, hold onto every moment.
Wildmon, Tim. "AFA Journal." American Family Association (2003): n. pag. Feb. 2003. Web. 17 Feb. 2014.
However, for those who did not get the privilege to experience a good environment growing up due to drug addicted parents and guardians should not lose hope. Such is also the case of adolescents who were introduced to drug abuse and feel hopeless in life. Programs such as the Adolescents Substance Use Disorders Services Program, aim to ensure hope and quality life for every broken child and adolescent. If left unattended and ignored, this children could end up on the wrong side of the law hence spend their adult life behind bars or far must worse remain unproductive all through their lives. It would be hazardous to ignore these children hence the urge to ensure all government officials in every state and the world at large to participate in a program that would not only increase the number of healthy adolescents but also the number of reliable adults in future. Drug addiction and abuse are cases that have brought down the economy of many countries all over the world due to unproductive adults who are deep into the act hence the need for it to be
When parents and children deal with these types of environments, the parents are often struggling with the issues of drugs and violence, either around them or personally, which leads to the parent being absent ...
Around the 1950’s, the media perpetuated the idea of the picturesque family unit; children made the shift from being a necessary evil to a symbol of status. Children were no longer meant to help sustain the family, so much as meant to be trophies of the parents’ competentness. Children became an outlet for parents to mold and live through vicariously: the more perfect your child was, the better parent you were. The problem is not that people want to have children, but that many cannot afford to take care of their spawn. Whether you are a young mother utilizing the assistance of government programs such as WIC or simply writing off your children on your taxes, you are making use of government incentive to procreate. Reproduction is completely natural; however, once backed by government incentive, the motivations for having children can take an unnatural turn. Children may be a symbol of love and unity, but it has expanded beyond the family unit. Many children have become the responsibility of the Unite...
Child abuse can come in many shapes in forms. There are four different kinds of abuse that I will be encountering in my research paper; they are physical, mental, emotional, and neglect. Most abuse is from neglect and net from physical. The category under physical also brings in the sexual abuse. (Do Something) Drug addicted babies also can qualify under the category of emotional and mental category. Two of the main questions in this paper are what is child abuse and what are drug addicted babies lives like. It turns out that babies lives do get affected majorly after the age of four, we’ll learn more about that later though. (Kronstadt, 2013)
Pagliaro, L. & Pagliaro, A. (2012). Handbook of Child and Adolescent drug and substance abuse: Pharmacological, Developmental, and Clinical Considerations. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley and Sons, Inc.
"USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau." USA QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau. US Census Bureau, n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013. .
Drug and alcohol abuse has become a worldwide epidemic within today’s society. The battle against drugs and alcohol is not going to diminish. Therefore, we as a society need to work together to address these problems while incorporating successful treatment plans and services for these individuals. The addiction to these substances does not only effect oneself, but can also have profound consequences for the children and families. When children are involved in a family structure that abuses alcohol or drugs an array of dysfunction becomes evident. Children might be subjected to child maltreatment, child abuse, physical/sexual abuse, or neglect, among many other inappropriate parenting practices.
Wurzel, Barbara J. Growing up in Single Parent Families. Columbus: November1, 2000. Infotrac. Online. .
Past studies (Dunifon, 2013; Jæger 2012) supported this research focusing on the parenting roles of grandfathers based off our questionnaire (See appendix). Although the present findings did support past research, the two culturally different backgrounds provided a more in depth and broader spectrum analysis to the research.