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The Rewards Of Caring For Grandchildren: Black Canadian Grandmothers Who Are Custodial Parents, Co-Parents, And Extensive Babysitters, Esme Fuller-Thomson, Sarah Serbinski, Leanne Mccormack

GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy

Grandparent caregiving is a growing phenomenon in both the United States and Canada. The burgeoning research on the topic has focused on custodial grandparents with an emphasis on negative aspects including poor physical and mental health outcomes for older adults. Less attention has been paid to the rewards of grandparent caregiving and to different intensities of caregiving provision. This grounded theory qualitative study of 16 Black Caribbean Canadian grandmothers sought to address this gap in the literature. We examined three types of grandparent caregivers: custodial grandparents (n=7), co-parent grandparents (n=5) and extensive babysitters (n=4). The average age of the children …