Across Generations: Culture, History, and Policy in the Social Ecology of American Indian Grandparents Parenting Their Grandchildren

ABSTRACT

This article describes an investigation of ecological factors related to the experience of American Indian grandparents raising their grandchildren. Elements of American Indian culture and history, and United States policy, were used to generate explanatory hypotheses that were subjected to a thematic analysis of qualitative interview data. This approach was used to apply ecological theory and test the derived hypotheses. Results of the thematic analysis indicate that participants value maintenance of traditional culture in their efforts to parent their grandchildren. Support also emerged for the hypothesis that participants would evidence distrust of government and mainstream programs. The hypothesis that the assimilation policy and its use of boarding schools would increase participants' reluctance to access services encountered mixed results, but some participants expressed strong beliefs that this legacy is a contributing factor. The hypothesis that the Indian Child Welfare Act would facilitate participants' efforts to parent their grandchildren also met mixed results, but some clear descriptions of its effectiveness were offered.

KEYWORDS:

• Grandparents
• kinship care
• American Indian
• native American
• Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)
• elders