How to support grandparents raising their grandkids alone

The advocacy group Generations United reports more than 2.5 million children in the United States are living in "grandfamilies," families where extended family members like grandparents raise children when their birth parents cannot.

Steven Kniffley Jr., PsyD, spoke with Parents.com about the unique challenges and need for support for grandfamilies, citing the African proverb that "it takes a village to raise a child."

"However, due to death, disease, and disruption, more and more grandparents are being called upon to be the village for their grandchildren," said Kniffley, senior associate dean for pathway innovation and inclusive excellence and associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in the UC College of Medicine. "A number of difficulties may arise in families that span generations with the biological parent absent, including bridging cultural divides, healing from inter-generational trauma and building a family identity."

Kniffley said open communication and creating space where every member feels heard and is given space to learn from mistakes and maintain unconditional love is important for grandfamilies.

Read the Parents.com article.

Featured photo at top of a grandmother reading to her grandchild. Photo/miodrag ignjatovic/iStock.