By Diane Pajak
dhpajak@uga.edu
“What do you do when your grandchild dyes his hair green?” That’s just one of the questions recently posed to Margaret Robinson during her regularly scheduled monthly meetings with a  group of grandparents who, once again, find themselves raising young children.
Robinson and her Social Work colleague Nancy Kropf coordinate Project Healthy Grandparents, which identifies, researches and addresses the needs of these grandparents.
“It’s called skipped-generation parenting, and it can be difficult, as you can imagine, for the grandparent,” says Robinson. “There is a growing phenomenon of grandparents who are put in the position of raising their grandchildren, and the School of Social Work helps them in their struggle of juggling two roles--a full-time grandparent and a full-time parent. We have to train the grandparent to become the parent again.”
Currently, Robinson says, 2.5 million U.S. households are headed by grandparents. The project in the School of Social Work serves Clarke, Madison and Oconee counties.
“Our program provides the support to strengthen and empower these women and men,” she explains, “who make the decision to rear their grandchildren, due to the death of a parent, a jailed parent, a history of drug abuse, immaturity on the part of the parent (teenage pregnancy) or child abuse.”
Until 1996, Robinson says, state policy was to aim for the reunification of children with their parents. The change in policy that year, with the passage of Georgia Senate Bill 611, meant that reunification did not have to be the primary case goal.
“Research has shown that, in some situations, it is in the best interest of the child to live with the grandparent rather than return to an unsuitable home environment,” Robinson says. “One of the primary goals of our project is to obtain a permanent relationship between the grandparent and the grandchild--either adoption or permanent custody.”
The project, one of three such programs in the state, is funded by the Georgia Department of Human Resources, in conjunction with the Georgia Department of Family and Children Services. The other two sites are housed at the Medical College of Georgia and Valdosta State University.
“The School of Social Work is the base that coordinates services among all the players,” Robinson says. “The project offers interventions in the home from an interdisciplinary team consisting of social workers, nurses or nursing students and law students.”
Nursing students from Athens Technical College and the School of Nursing at Athens provide health screenings for the grandparents and grandchildren and arrange the initial home visit, where baseline data on glucose levels, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, weight and height information is determined.
Law students from the public interest project provide the grandparents with legal education--rather than legal advice--pertaining to such matters as adoption and child custody, wills, estate planning and taxation.
Robinson and Kropf have gathered qualitative research data from this project which they hope will help determine why skipped-generation parenting is on the rise.
Since its inception, the project has intervened with 50 families. Presently, 23 families participate; 25 is the maximum at any one time.
“It started with a few grandparents getting involved and then referrals made the list grow,” Robinson says. “Our monthly meetings are held at the Council on Aging facility in Clarke County and are open to the public. We provide transportation and babysitting for those grandparents enrolled. If we do our job right, we’re in and out. The project is designed for us to get the grandparents and the child on track.”
It is a very satisfying project for that reason, says Robinson. “Project Healthy Grandparents has that perfect blend of teaching, research and community service. The theme of our Healthy Grandparents Project is, as a culture and community, it is our duty to support, strengthen and empower those charged with the responsibility of rearing our children. This project ensures that it happens.” |
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