The 2008 Current Population Survey has identified approximately 9% of all children (6.6 million) living in the United States as living in a household that includes a grandparent. Of these children, 23% (1.5 million) had no parent present in the household (Edwards, 2009). These grandchildren and grandparents are often referred to as “custodial grandchildren” and “custodial grandparents,” while their family structure is referred to as a “grandfamily” (Hayslip & Kaminski, 2006). Although grandfamilies are created for a variety of reasons, this article focuses on grandfamilies which have been created when biological parents are unable or unwilling to care for their children, with some type of traumatic event or crisis as a common causal factor associated with this parental inability or unwillingness. The trauma, experienced at almost any level of magnitude, impacts both grandparents and grandchildren developmentally, influencing physical and emotional health and compromising the child's ability to trust his or her parents and other attachment figures. These primary relationships, when disrupted, add further clinical complications given that “the ability of children to recover from traumatic experiences is influenced by the quality of their attachments” (Busch & Lieberman, 2007, p. 139). Consequently, it is important to acknowledge the effects of trauma and to use an integrated model of attachment and family systems theories when treating the grandchild(ren) and the custodial grandparent(s), given their unique family structure.
The current literature relating to intervention with these families has included supporting custodial grandparents through access to community resources (e.g. Hayslip and Shore, 2000 and Whitley et al., 1999), parent training (e.g. Cox, 2000), and support groups (Strom & Strom, 2000). Literature specifically relating to supporting custodial grandchildren has been scant with most coming from school-based interventions (e.g. Edwards and Daire, 2006 and Edwards and Sweeney, 2007). Grandparent and grandchild relational-based treatments are sorely lacking for this population. This paper builds on previous grandfamily literature, especially that which addresses attachment theory (Connor, 2006, Dolbin-MacNab, 2005, Edwards and Sweeney, 2007 and Poehlmann, 2003), and presents a model which acknowledges the effects of trauma on the entire family system and proposes that the healing of all parties (adults and children) occurs as a function of the bi-directional attachment between grandchild and grandparent(s).
Grandfamilies are a viable family constellation as diverse as the reasons for which they are formed and the individuals comprising them. Many grandparents and grandchildren are resilient and resourceful and their difficulty in adjusting to the grandfamily custodial arrangement can be considered minimal. However, some grandfamilies may require, and can benefit from, clinical intervention. The purpose of this paper is to increase therapist knowledge for providing clinical services to grandfamilies with young children formed in consequence of nuclear family trauma and/or abuse. Accordingly, basic information regarding grandfamilies will be presented along with a discussion of the impact of trauma and grandfamily formation on the grandchild(ren) and grandparent(s). An attachment-based model of family therapy is introduced and discussed with particular attention to how family therapy can be used to facilitate attachment healing.
2. Therapist knowledge regarding grandfamilies
In the past, when a grandparent assumed the role of caregiver to dependent children it was as the result of a life event, such as death, divorce, or abandonment. Although these events still figure prominently in the assumption of caregiving by grandparents, there are several additional reasons, including parental drug dependence (Casper and Bryson, 1998, Hayslip and Kaminski, 2005a, Heywood, 1999, McGowen et al., 2006, Pinson-Millburn et al., 1996 and Ross and Aday, 2006). In this circumstance, not only are the grandparents dealing with the issues of having a child who is abusing drugs, but they are also faced with raising a grandchild who may be suffering serious developmental problems as a result of a parents' drug use (Pinson-Millburn et al., 1996).
Another common reason for the increase in grandparent-headed households is the decrease in two-parent households, from more than 86% in 1950 to about 70% of family constellations in the mid-1990s (Harden, Clark, & Maguire, 1997). The third leading factor associated with the increase in grandfamilies is abuse and neglect of grandchildren perpetrated by one or both parents (Hayslip and Kaminski, 2005a, McGowen et al., 2006 and Pinson-Millburn et al., 1996). Closely related are the number of children who are placed with grandparents because of domestic violence and the associated risk for the children as witnesses to, or potential victims of, the violence (McGowen et al., 2006). Other reasons include the death, incarceration, or military service of a parent and mental health conditions of parents, which compromise their ability to take care of their children (McGowen et al., 2006 and Ross and Aday, 2006). These reasons, while not exhaustive, are the most common explanations for grandparents taking on the role of custodial grandparenting.
