Suchergebnisse

Grandmother caregiving in African American communities is a tradition used across social classes and circumstances of adult children and grandchildren. Yet, in the literature, it is viewed as a strategy used when the well-being of children is in jeopardy, families have low-incomes and limited resources, and parents are experiencing social problems. However, Mrs. Marian Shields Robinson is serving as a grandmother caregiver to the first African American First Family in the White House. This article provides an expanded view on the variations of grandmother caregiving by critically analyzing it and Mrs. Robinson's role to provide social workers with four implications for practice.

Abstract: Grandmothers primarily responsible for caring for their grandchildren possess strengths and confront challenges. To gain insight into intergenerational parenting, 17 African American grandmothers were interviewed. Based on a qualitative content analysis, seven strategies emerged: maintaining effective communication, taking a strong role in the educational process, providing socioemotional support, involving extended family, involving grandchildren in selective community activities, acknowledging and working with the vulnerabilities, and recognizing children's feelings about the absence of the biological parent(s). Implications for clinical work with grandmothers are included.

African American grandmothers are increasingly assuming the role of "new mothers again" to care for their grandchildren whose parents are absent from the household. Why these older women decide to take on becoming a new mother again after their primary parenting days are over has not been clear. This article uses a phenomenological perspective to describe, in their own words, the experiences of 12 African American grandmothers and why they assumed the parental role for their grandchildren. Six interrelated themes emerged: (a) tradition of kinkeeping; (b) relationship with grandchildren; (c) distrust of the foster care system; (d) grandmother as only the resource; (e) strong relationship with the Lord; and (f) refusal of the grandchild's other grandmother to assist with caregiving. These themes are used as a guide to make recommendations to enhance the lives of grandmothers.

This qualitative study captured the lived experiences of 12 grandmothers who assumed the role of primary caregivers of their grandchildren because the children's parents were not present. The study found that the grandmothers experienced a role shift from grandmothers to new mothers again, which resulted in unanticipated changes in all aspects of their lives.

Social work researchers are increasingly interested in capturing the lived experiences of African American women in various settings and circumstances. Qualitative methodologies can fulfill this goal, yet researchers commonly face several barriers in gathering the collective stories of African American women. This article explores the process of conducting qualitative research with African American females from the feminist perspectives of two researchers – one African American and one White. Through dialogue, we describe how our individual standpoints influenced our experiences during three research stages: engaging, recruiting, and interviewing. Although our racial backgrounds contributed to very distinct research experiences, we contend that with cultural awareness and understanding of African American communities, researchers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds can make positive contributions to building knowledge about African American women. Strategies that insiders and outsiders can utilize in qualitative research with disenfranchised communities are presented.

Over the course of an African American's lifetime, mental health care needs change according to an individual's unique interactions with his or her environment. Mental Health Care in the African-American Community uses this perspective to provide a deeper analysis of factors and issues affecting the mental health of African Americans. This comprehensive text provides a current and historical analysis of the impact of mental health research, policy, community, and clinical practice from a life course perspective. Stressing evidence-based practice as an expanded way to think and talk about indiv

Abstract
Racial disproportionality in out-of-school suspensions is a persistent social justice issue in public schools. This article examines out-of-school suspensions of four black youths from the perspectives of the youths, their caregivers, and educators. The case involving David, a 14-year-old African American with a learning disability, illustrates the challenges of students experiencing the intersection of disability and race. The case involving George, a 14-year-old Liberian immigrant, illustrates how parents and teachers may form alliances around shared goals and values despite profound cultural differences in understanding of youths' misbehavior. The case involving Nina, a 12-year-old African American, illustrates how educators' failure to consider the context of her misbehaviors as responses to sexual harassment, along with their subsequent harsh punishment and failure to protect her, led to her disengagement from school. The case involving Craig, a 16-year-old African American, provides a glimpse into how the use of criminal justice language to refer to youths' misbehaviors can support the development of a criminalized self- and social identity. These cases illustrate the diversity of black students—including ability, disability, culture, and gender—and how events surrounding suspensions are interpreted by students, caregivers, and educators. Understanding such diversity will undergird implementation of effective alternatives to suspensions.