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

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

In 2005, 6 million children were being raised by their grandparents. Sometimes, their grandchildren's parents had died, sometimes they were in prison, and sometimes they just couldn't cope with raising children. When grandparents take in their grandchildren to raise, they have some difficulties most families don't have. They're older, for one thing, and they also have to deal with their own children and that relationship. But they have the wisdom and experience they've gained from raising one set of children already, and this can help. The families in this book have had both good and bad experiences, but they have learned a great deal through them.

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.

[This title] operates on the radical premise that neither child nor parent must dominate. -- Review.

The New York Times Bestseller From one of the country’s most recognizable journalists, Lesley Stahl of CBS's 60 Minutes: How becoming a grandmother transforms a woman’s life. After four decades as a reporter, Lesley Stahl’s most vivid and transformative experience of her life was not covering the White House, interviewing heads of state, or researching stories at 60 Minutes. It was becoming a grandmother. She was hit with a jolt of joy so intense and unexpected, she wanted to “investigate” it—as though it were a news flash. And so, using her 60 Minutes skills, she explored how grandmothering changes a woman’s life, interviewing friends like Whoopi Goldberg, colleagues like Diane Sawyer (and grandfathers, including Tom Brokaw), as well as the proverbial woman next door. Along with these personal accounts, Stahl speaks with scientists and doctors about physiological changes that occur in women when they have grandchildren; anthropologists about why there are grandmothers, in evolutionary terms; and psychiatrists about the therapeutic effects of grandchildren on both grandmothers and grandfathers. Throughout Becoming Grandma, Stahl shares stories about her own life with granddaughters Jordan and Chloe, about how her relationship with her daughter, Taylor, has changed, and about how being a grandfather has affected her husband, Aaron. In an era when baby boomers are becoming grandparents in droves and when young parents need all the help they can get raising their children, Stahl’s book is a timely and affecting read that redefines a cherished relationship.

There’s a quiet epidemic in our culture: The fastest-growing type of family unit is grandparents charged with the task of raising their children’s children. Though there are myriad reasons for this—the death of one’s adult child, parental drug addiction, abusive living situations, or incarceration, to name a few—the effects tend to be the same: Senior citizens who expected to spend their golden years relaxing or traveling are now seeing their dreams dashed. Those on limited incomes are feeling the strain and are frightened about their futures. And the mental, spiritual, and physical exhaustion of parenting and disciplining children many decades their junior, exacerbated by a technology gap, is overwhelmingly real. And yet, through their sacrificial service, these seniors are acting as kinsman-redeemers for their grandchildren—keeping them out of the foster care system and giving them the best shot possible for a successful life. In When Grandparents Become Parents, experienced author Rick Johnson details both the challenges and solutions these heroic seniors face, offering strategies and resources (including real advice from other grandparents) to deal with major areas of stress—incorporating humor, common sense, and practical advice along the way.