The Lived Experiences of African American Grandfathers Raising Their Grandchildren

Abstract

According to the most recent US Census statistics, there is an estimated 2.5 million grandparents raising their grandchildren in the United States without the children's parents present in the household. In Indianapolis, the figure constitutes nearly 9,000 households. There are a disproportionately higher number of African American grandparents that are primary caregivers to their grandchildren. However, 6 percent of this population is grandfathers who are raising their grandchildren, while some 40 percent of the grandmothers are married. The research is a compilation of interviews with ten African American grandfathers living in Indianapolis who are raising their grandchildren in their households without the presence of the grandchildren’s parents. These men were either married or widowed and have either formal custody of their grandchildren through adoption, foster care/kinship care, court-appointed guardianship or informal living arrangements. The objective of the research was to capture the lived experiences of these grandfathers who were fulfilling their caregiving roles. Thus, the research methodology used was reflective of the phenomenological paradigm of inquiry.