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Thread ID: 125361	2012-06-22 07:35:00	Grandmother's caring for children.	mzee (3324)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1283395	2012-06-22 07:35:00	I know that there are exceptions due to death and/or ill health of the parents. For the rest of them I think that maybe they didn't do a very good job of raising their own children. Maybe they could be better off in foster care. If everything is above board I think they should get full help and support from welfare, and keep the family together. My experience of fostering was that no sooner had you turned a sick unhappy child into a happy one, it would be returned to the abuser. We would then have to do the whole bit again when the child was returned to us later. Had to give it up in the end because our own children where being badly effected by it. They thought that we would send them away, also lost faith in relationships with other kids.	mzee (3324)
1283396	2012-06-22 14:55:00	My sympathies Mzee, that must have been damned hard to deal with. Here you are cherishing a child who, just when they feel safe, get taken away. And your own children see this happen. My respect.	Winston001 (3612)
1283397	2012-06-22 19:42:00	I know that there are exceptions due to death and/or ill health of the parents. For the rest of them I think that maybe they didn't do a very good job of raising their own children. Maybe they could be better off in foster care. Really. I think sometimes your children, brought up well, go their own way and do their own thing. Then they're stuck with helping the grandchildren. My mum knows a lady in this situation, sure wasn't anything wrong with their family life, but she has the grandchild now as the parents got into drugs.	pctek (84)
1283398	2012-06-22 21:37:00	In the neighbourhood where I grew up 50% of the girls in the street were being raised by their grandparents, so I don't think it's anything new by any means. One of the elderly had no legs, so I imagine having a child in the house was not an easy option taken in his interests. Being no older than age 8 I was never aware of the bigger issues that had led to this juggling of the families. I can confirm as a 'play mate' of these other kids that the kids living with their parents got up to less mischief than those living with grandparents... not that my very limited experience is guaranteed to be typical of the majority of these situations. Having been raised myself by parents who were old enough to be grandparents, I can comment that the age (or personality) of the adults in the home can certainly influence a young childs sociability and confidence, with the elderly more intolerant of kids play and noise, and far less sociable than younger parents. The reverse applies too, there will certainly be times when a child is better off with the stability of the olds rather than in the company of a loopy self indulgent young parent who is still mentally and emotionally immature. No child should be left in the company of abusive carers, regardles of their age or 'mana' within the family or the community. But most of all, I think kids should be given stability. As few transfers around the carers as possible, and also as few house shifts and new school experiences as well. I known of kids who've been in more schools than they've had birthdays... every year they have to adjust to multiple changes in school, teachers, neighbourhood and friends. Imagine being the stranger in a new neighbourhood and in a new school every 4 months or so?	Paul.Cov (425)
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