Grandparents Matter: Optimising grandparent connections with their grandchildren after child protection concerns

Full description

Limited available literature explores the experiences of grandparents after child protection intervention. This partnerhsip research between James Cook University, Fin(WA), FIN (Qld- Townsville) and Act for Kids explored how grandparent–grandchild contact can be optimised after child-safety concerns in the family home.

The community partners and social work researchers collaborated throughout the project. The community partners provided guidance and feedback on the research question and processes. They promoted the research within their organisation, networks and client groups, reviewed and contributed to the data analysis and findings, and were involved in drafting and reviewing manuscripts and blogs for dissemination.

The research question posed was: What are the ways that the inclusion of grandparents can be optimised in child-protection intervention, out-of-home care and related services? The primary research aim was to document the narratives, perceptions and recommendations of participants, and contribute to current knowledge and practice. Semi-structured open-ended interviewquestions explored and identified ways to optimise the inclusion of grandparents in child-protection/out-of-home care/kinship care. Grandparents were primarily recruited for the study, although other groups were included in order to maximise researchers’ understanding. The research was approved through the university Human Ethics Committe.

The final sample (n=77) included participants from Queensland, Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria. A total of thirty-nine interviews were undertaken in 2016; these consisted of twenty-eight individual interviews, three couple interviews and seven focus group interviews. The interviews took place face to face or over the telephone, utilising an interview guide. Interviews were undertaken by three members of the research collaboration.

Participants contributed from various perspectives. The sample consisted of 51 grandparents, six foster carers (nonfamily), 12 parents, and eight workers. The grandparent sample consisted of 46 grandmothers  and five grandfathers. In total, 26 participants in the study identified as Aboriginal Australian and one participant identified as Torres Strait Islander.

The following data is stored in the secure data section of the Tropical Data Hub (TDH) archive. The interview guides are available for download from the Data link below.

1. Interview guides
2. Transcripts of individual and focus group interviews
3. Recordings of interviews
4. Codes for Analysis

Notes

Data consists of 3 zip files containing the data analysis (8 MS Word files), interview guides (6 MS Word files) and the interview recordings and transcripts (54 MS Word files and 31 audio files (MP3 and 1 MPEG-4)).

MS Word documents have also been saved in PDF format and stored in similarly named zip files for preservation purposes.