2016 SSWR Final

Parenting challenges among kinship caregivers: Differences and similarities

between grandparent caregivers and other relative caregivers

Presented at 20th Annual Conference of Society of Social Work and Research

Michael Clarkson-Hendrix, Yeonggeul Lee and Eunju Lee

Project Background

• A 3 year demonstration project funded by Children’s Bureau

• To improve practice and policy for kinship families who are not in foster care

• Caregivers often have court-ordered guardianship or custody

• Research suggests many kinship caregivers are struggling financially and children may have high needs for services

Study Settings and Participant Recruitment

• 5 upstate counties including rural to urban sites

• Caregivers who came into contact with social services and community agencies were asked to participate

Goals

1. To understand the contexts and the relationship types of kinship care

2. To examine service needs and challenges of providing care to children

3. To investigate the differences and similarities between grandparent and other caregivers

Mixed Methods

• Survey Data Collection

– Phone Interview lasting 30-50 minutes

– May 2013 - September 2014

– Incentives

– N=303

Survey Measures

1. Parenting Stress Index – Parental Distress (PD) subscale

2. Demographic characteristics and socio-economic data

3. Reasons for becoming kin caregiver

4. Relationship to child

5. Household

6. Caregiver well-being

7. Family Needs Scale

Focus Group

• A topic guide including contexts of placement, service needs and challenges of being full-time caregivers

• 4 Focus groups across 5 sites

– 2 groups of grandparents

– 2 groups of other relatives

• Two researchers – a facilitator and a note taker

• Tape recorded and transcribed

Survey Findings

• N=303

• 71 % are grandparents

– The rest are other relatives and friends.

• Caregiver mean age: 52 years (range; 20-86)

• Children: 0-20

63.77%

22.83%

13.41%

One Child Two Children Three or More

# of children in care

Household Income

Under $10,000

19%

$ 10,000-19,999

17%

$ 20,000-29,999

14%$ 30,000-39,999

10%

$ 40,000-49,999

10%

Over $ 50,000

30%

Reason the child not living with mother

13.2%

14.9%

16.6%

16.6%

20.7%

31.5%

46.1%

46.1%

52.9%

55.3%

55.3%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60%

Mother is going to or is in jail

Mother has never been involved in child's life

Mother's whereabouts are unknown

Mother has serious health problems

Mother's involvement in other child welfare services

Mother is a victim of domestic violence

Mother's housing is unstable/got evicted

Mother has financial problems/can't afford to keep the child

Mother has drug/alcohol problems

Mother has mental health issues

Mother's involvement in CPS

Results 1: T-tests and chi-squaresVariables GPCG (n=214)

Mean (SD) / N (%)ORCG (n=86)

Mean (SD)/ N (%)t-score /

chi-squaredp-value

Age (years) 55.77 (9.21) 43.39 (11.9) 9.631 <0.001Caregiver race/ethnicityWhite (Non-Hispanic)Black (Non-Hispanic)HispanicOther

147 (69.0)47 (22.1)17 (8.0)2 (0.9)

54 (62.8)21 (24.4)10 (11.6)1 (1.2)

1.435 0.697

Household incomeUnder 20,00020,000 – 50,000Over 50,000

78 (38.0)65 (31.7)62 (30.2)

24 (28.9)34 (41.0)25 (30.1)

2.864 0.239

Number of own childrennoneonetwothree or more than three

139 (65.0)53 (24.8)14 (6.5)8 (3.7)

38 (44.2)25 (29.1)12 (14.0)11 (12.8)

16.747 0.001

Number of kin childrenonetwothree or more than three

135 (63.1)53 (24.8)26 (12.1)

66 (76.7)8 (9.3)

12 (14.0)

9.081 0.011

Perceived well-being 3.40 (0.84) 3.75 (0.82) 3.268 <0.001Family needs scale 1.37 (0.83) 1.57 (0.83) 1.770 0.078Parental distress 28.41 (9.00) 23.87 (8.19) 3.927 <0.001Clinically significant level (>35) of PDyesno

35 (18.2)157 (81.8)

9 (11.0)73 (89.0)

2.243 .153

Results 2: t-tests and chi-squares

• GPCGs are sig. older than ORCGs.

• GPCGs showed lower perceived well-being

• GPCGs showed higher PD.

• GPCGs are more likely to be clinically sig. in PD

Result 3: Multiple RegressionStep 1

B (β)

Step 2

B (β)

R square

change

Grandparent vs other relative caregivers

Caregiver age

Race/Ethnicity (Ref. White and others)

Black

Hispanic

Household income (Ref. +$50,000)

Under $20,000

$20,000 - $49,999

Have own children (y/n)

Have more than one kin child (y/n)

-2.964 (-.151)*

.051 (.065)

-1.338 (-.062)

2.418 (.079)

.196 (.010)

-.258 (-.014)

-2.026 (-.092)

2.407 (.127)*

-2.596 (-.132)*

.071 (.091)

-.903 (-.042)

1.510 (.049)

-1.593 (-.084)

-1.878 (-.100)

-1.140 (-.052)

1.906 (.100) †

Step 1: .092

Perceived well-being

FNS

-3.213 (-.301)**

2.619 (.243)**

Step 2: .150**

ANOVA tests at each step2)

R at each step

F(8, ∞)=3.356**

.302

F(10, ∞)=8.357**

.492

R2 (adjusted R2) at each step .092 (.064) .242 (.214)

Intercept 25.071 32.564

Result 3: Multiple Regression• Step 1

– GPCGs showed higher level of PD compared to ORCGs– CGs who have more than one kin-child showed higher

level of parental distress compared to CGs who have one kin-child

• Own-child variable was not significant

• Step 2: Model was sig. better than step 1– GPCGs still showed higher level of PD compared to

ORCGs– Kin-child variable was sig. at the level of p=.10– Perceived well-being and FNS were associated with PD

GP-OR variable is still sig. in step 2. Further investigation to understand the difference b/w

GPCSs and ORCGs is needed.

Qualitative Results: Sources of Parenting Stress

• Caregiver personal

• Kinship child(ren)

• Biological parent of kinship child(ren)

• Peer or family of kinship caregiver

• Institutional

Qualitative Results: Similarities

• Kinship child(ren)’s behavior

• Conflicts with biological parent

• Biological parent addiction

• Child welfare

• Department of Social Services

Qualitative Results - Differences

Conclusions

• Many sources of stress are similar for both grandparents and other relative caregivers

• Elevated parental distress levels for grandparents compared to other relative caregivers may be due to concerns for the parent’s well-being, guilt, the strain of caring for spouses whose functioning is compromised and the lack of appropriate mental health services for kinship children

Conclusions

• Limitations

– A non representative survey sample

– PD was never tested on kin caregivers

– Selection bias for a focus group sample

Implications

• Practice– Many sources of stress can be addressed in similar ways

for both groups (e.g., case management services)

– Grandparents should be screened for feelings of guilt and referred to appropriate services to address them (e.g., grandparent support group)

– Grandparents should be screened for spousal health status and referred to appropriate services to address caregiver strain (e.g., aging services)

– Mental health service providers should be trained in the needs of grandparent caregivers

Implications

• Policy

– Federal and state governments need to formulate a coherent policy to improve well-being of informal kinship families

– State and local child welfare administrators need to recognize high prevalence of child welfare involvement in this population

– Local agencies need to assist families to access resources and services