The Grandfamily Guidebook

Are you one of nearly 3 million grandparents across North America raising your grandchildren as part of a grandfamily? You may have done all this parenting stuff before, but times have changed since you raised your own kids, and you likely never thought you’d be raising kids again. What has led to all these family issues and the growing need for grandparents to step up? Now more than ever, substance use and addiction have made many birth parents simply unfit for the job, whether the problem is alcohol, opioids, or other drugs. Family dynamics might also be undermined by parents’ mental health or medical problems, incarceration, or a simple lack of preparedness for family responsibilities. Whatever the reason for your new role, you must now help your grandchildren adjust to their extended family as part of their everyday life, through the best care you are able to provide. While your new role means that you will likely have to change the way you live, the kinship care you provide your grandchildren might make all the difference in the world. In The Grandfamily Guidebook—which leading medical experts have called a “must-have” resource for grandparents raising grandchildren—authors Andrew Adesman, MD, and Christine Adamec offer expert medical advice, helpful insights gleaned from other grandparents, and data mined from the 2016 Adesman Grandfamily Study—the broadest and most diverse research study of its kind to date. You’ll also find hands-on tips you’ll be able to reference whenever you need them, including how to cope with difficult birth parents, school issues and social-life challenges, problem behaviors that stem from a difficult past, and your own self-care. Starting with its foreword by the renowned Dr. William Sears, across this book you will find practical, inspiring help as you navigate the financial impacts, legal considerations, and medical issues that commonly arise when grandparents and grandchildren start becoming a grandfamily.

Are you one of nearly 3 million grandparents across North America raising your grandchildren as part of a grandfamily? You may have done all this parenting stuff before, but times have changed since you raised your own kids, and you likely never thought you’d be raising kids again. What has led to all these family issues and the growing need for grandparents to step up? Now more than ever, substance use and addiction have made many birth parents simply unfit for the job, whether the problem is alcohol, opioids, or other drugs. Family dynamics might also be undermined by parents’ mental health or medical problems, incarceration, or a simple lack of preparedness for family responsibilities. Whatever the reason for your new role, you must now help your grandchildren adjust to their extended family as part of their everyday life, through the best care you are able to provide. While your new role means that you will likely have to change the way you live, the kinship care you provide your grandchildren might make all the difference in the world. In The Grandfamily Guidebook—which leading medical experts have called a “must-have” resource for grandparents raising grandchildren—authors Andrew Adesman, MD, and Christine Adamec offer expert medical advice, helpful insights gleaned from other grandparents, and data mined from the 2016 Adesman Grandfamily Study—the broadest and most diverse research study of its kind to date. You’ll also find hands-on tips you’ll be able to reference whenever you need them, including how to cope with difficult birth parents, school issues and social-life challenges, problem behaviors that stem from a difficult past, and your own self-care. Starting with its foreword by the renowned Dr. William Sears, across this book you will find practical, inspiring help as you navigate the financial impacts, legal considerations, and medical issues that commonly arise when grandparents and grandchildren start becoming a grandfamily.

About the Book Our Grandfamily is an honest, yet reassuring look at the struggles and joys of living in a skip-generation family. Designed as a flip-sided book, dual stories allow readers to experience a unique type of family arrangement from the perspective of both grandparents and grandchildren. With humour, heart, and highlighted feeling words to inspire conversation, Our Grandfamily is both entertaining and educational. About Skip-Generation Families The portrait of the North American family is changing dramatically, with skip-generation families becoming increasingly common. These special households consist of grandparents and grandchildren living life together. The middle generation, parents, are absent from the home - but still loved. This complex style of family faces numerous challenges and support can be difficult to find. The purpose of this book is to raise awareness of Grandfamilies, to reduce the isolation felt by many grandparents and grandchildren, and to encourage meaningful discussions both within skip-generation families and throughout the broader community. About The SHARE Project Our Grandfamily is the result of the collective efforts of those involved in The SHARE Project. SHARE stands for Skip-Generation Families Helping Others through Awareness Resources and Education. The project was inspired by grandparents and grandchildren living in skip-generation families in Calgary, Alberta and was generously funded by the Government of Canada's New Horizons for Seniors Program. In addition to this children's book, the SHARE Project group also produced a resource for grandparents titled, Lasting Legacy: A Handbook of Guidance and Hope for Grandparents Raising Grandchildren. This resource is available free of charge at www.childrenslink.ca.

You are not alone if you are one of the staggering numbers of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren! Are you confused by the generational gaps, challenging communications, and tough questions like, “Why are my parents so old? Why is my father in jail? Why doesn’t my mother show up to visit when she promised?” The Sacred Work of Grandparents Raising Their Grandchildren is the first book that contains answers and stories to address these unique issues and challenges—from one grandparent to another. You’ll enjoy the practical suggestions on how grandchildren can manage and solve some of their own problems, while learning how to cope with your own distinctive life challenges. As a parenting grandparent, a kinship caregiver, a teacher, or a social service worker, you must read this book for invaluable insight. No other book takes on the complex challenges that parenting grandparents face with such depth and truth. How relieved and grateful you’ll be for the inspiration, knowledge and wisdom by the time you reach the conclusion! “Through the stories told by grandparents themselves, Elaine K. Williams reveals the challenges, commitment, and love experienced by grandparents raising their grandchildren. This book not only provides understanding and helpful information, but will also touch the hearts of all who read it.” —Sandy P., a grandparent who raised a grandchild “I’ve waited five years for this wonderful author, Elaine K. Williams, to complete her groundbreaking gathering of knowledge from three generations so that we can clearly see the patterns of grandparents who are raising their grandchildren. The most important points are to help grandparents understand the dynamics of the emotional and behavioral challenges their grandchildren face, and the impactful trauma that all generations experience. She brings the keys of caring, connection, and communication forward to assist families to heal. Highly recommended.” —Dr. Caron Goode, EdD, NCC, author of the award-winning book Raising Intuitive Children

An A to Z reference containing over 400 entries with information on key issues related to child abuse.

[Buy this book now only at iUniverse.com bookstore. Order from bookstores everywhere in 4-6 weeks!] Much as Nancy Friday's My Mother My Self explored the mother-daughter bond, this book illuminates the emotional themes that surround the important relationship betyween fathers and sons in terms both practical and theoretical, both enlightening and moving. Drawing upon extensive case-history material, based on interviews with over 100 fathers and sons from a cross section of society, Yablonsky defines the various prototypes of each -- autocratic, egocentric, and distant fathers, compliant and rebellious sons; their interactions and interdependencies; their individual rights and duties and their obligations to each other ; the normal and pathological conflicts between them and how mothers and daughters can intervene constructively in such conflicts; the degree to which a father's status in the world can affect his son's aspirations -- and how a son's success or failure can affect his father; and other important dimensions of this complex relationship. Fathers and Sons is an important, definitive, highly useful guide for all men who want to improve their own such relationships and for the women who want to better understand the fathers and sons in their lives.

"A valuable, practical resource for parents and caregivers of children, from age five through adulthood, who exhibit signs of, or have been diagnosed with, borderline personality disorder (BPD)."—Booklist Based on the self-help classic, Stop Walking on Eggshells, this essential guide offers powerful skills and strategies for parenting a child of any age with borderline personality disorder (BPD)—without sacrificing their family or themselves. If you have a child with BPD, you are all-too-aware of the behavioral and emotional issues that are linked to this disorder—including rages, self-harm, sexual acting out, substance abuse, suicidal behaviors, physical and emotional attacks, and more. Traditional parenting strategies that work on other kids just don’t work with a borderline child. But you shouldn’t lose hope. The good news is that there are parenting strategies that do work. With this comprehensive resource, you will learn all about borderline personality disorder, how it shows up in children, adolescents, and your adult children, how to obtain proper treatment, and how to manage your child’s condition at home. You’ll find proven-effective strategies to help you communicate and improve your relationship with your child of any age, and, as a result, improve your own life as a parent and an individual. You’ll also find real stories and advice from parents who have also experienced raising a child with BPD. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to maintain boundaries and validate your child while also meeting your own needs. Whether your child is 5 or 25, this book offers tools to help you and your family thrive.

Over six million children live in grandparent-headed households in the United States today. The number continues to rise.