When Grandparents Take Custody—Changing Intergenerational Relationships: The New Zealand Experience

Abstract

The achieving of grandparenthood is usually a cause for celebration. However, for some grandparents, expectations of time-limited caring for the children and sending back to parents to do the “hard work” of raising is not the reality. There is now an increasing international phenomenon of grandparents taking full responsibility for the raising of their grandchildren. The concept of “family continuity” and the sustaining of family links and identity for children unable to live with their biological parents is now internationally seen as good child welfare practice. The New Zealand Children Young Persons and their Families Act (1989) was a leader in international child welfare legislation mandating the seeking of extended family placement for children in need of care and protection. The act, formulated on Maori concepts of family/whanau ¹ decision making, follows the cultural value held by Maori and Pacific Island cultures that the children are seen as belonging to the wider family/whanau group. It must be questioned, however, whether European extended families are as willing to accept responsibility for kin children. Maori children needing care and protection are now almost twice as likely to be placed with grandparents or other extended family members as European children. In 2005, the Grandparents Raising Grandchildren (NZ) Trust completed an in-depth postal survey of a random sample (n = 790) drawn from its 2,800 members. Demographic and experiential data were collected from 323 caregiving families who responded, representing 526 caregivers, 492 children and their biological parents. The sample yielded an underrepresentation of Maori and Pacific Island respondents and therefore cannot be taken as representative of the total New Zealand grandparent carer population. The relational, cultural, legal, and socioeconomic issues that impact on how care is experienced by these caregivers are discussed in order to gain insight on the affect of taking custody on expected stage of life experience and the general well-being of all concerned.

KEYWORDS:

• grandparents
• custody
• relationships
• law
• well-being

Notes

1. Whanau is the Maori term for the extended family system, there being no traditional concept of nuclear family.

2. Work and Income Support: the New Zealand Government agency responsible for distribution of all benefits and income support.