Kinship caregivers are grandparents and other relatives raising children. This family structure is becoming more common, and providers of both child care and aging services have requested information to better understand grandfamilies.

This workshop is based on The Consultation Center’s 13 years of experience working with grandfamilies. It will help service providers understand the complex challenges, and particularly the mixed emotional issues, faced by kinship caregivers.

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the demographics of grandfamilies, including reasons grandparents step in to raise their grandchildren.
2. Learn why kinship caregivers are often triply marginalized.
3. Explore the emotional context in which grandparents and grandchildren live.
4. Understand some of the practical decisions faced by grandparents raising grandchildren, and the ramifications of those decisions.
5. Explore how grandfamilies are similar and different from other types of families.