A Qualitative Study On Grandparents’ Involvement In Special Children’s Daily Care

It’s a complex and long process to raise special children,which urge the whole family system to adjust in various aspects.On the one hand,it has long been considered only right and proper in China that grandparents should take care of their grandkids.On the other hand,allocating more parenting responsibility to grandparents is a feasible adjustment strategy in face of disability,which can avoid the negative impact taken by disability on parents’ career and guarantee the normal functioning of family system.However,little is known about the experience of these grandparents who bear the burden of caring their special grandchildren.Thus the study will clarify grandparents’standpoints about rearing special grandchildren in the context of Chinese culture,including the following questions:(1)how they perceive the responsibility of taking care of their special grandchildren;(2)how participation in daily care affects the current life and future plans of them;(3)what they think of the caring experience.A semi-structured interview with 15 grandparents was used to solve these problems.The final conclusions are as follows:The essence of grandparents involvement is to maintain the balance and stability of their family system.In this process,they shoulder dual responsibilities,and the trajectories of individuals and families have gradually changed over time.Furthermore,the dual responsibility is considered as a significant feature of their involvement.First,compared with the ordinary children’s grandparents in China,special children’s grandparents bear more heavy and long-term responsibilities.Second,compared with the parents of special children,they bear the dual responsibilities both for their children and grandchildren.Third,compared with grandparents in western countries,they shoulder the responsibility both for their nuclear family and extended family,and pay more attention to the balance and harmony of extended family.On the basis of above conclusions,the researchers tried to list some suggestions to unite the power of family members,professionals and government agencies to eliminate obstacles in the process of grandparents involvement,so that these grandparents can participate in the their special grandchildren’s daily activities more smoothly and display their educational talents better.