ScholarWorks > Institutes & Centers > Grandparents Raising Grandchildren > GrandFamilies > Vol. 8 > Iss. 1 (2025)
Abstract
In 2007, my mentor, Anne Strozier, and I wrote an article about the various systems of care that were in place to help support grandparents and other relatives raising children in the US (Strozier & Krisman, 2007). We noted how difficult it was to completely understand the data related to the needs of grandfamilies, because they existed in so many siloed systems of care, including child welfare, aging, education, legal, health care, and others. Today is 17 years since that article was published and systems serving kinship families are just as segmented and siloed as ever.
In the 10 years since the first issue, the Grandfamilies journal has applied an ecological systems approach to grandfamilies support systems to widen the policy scope, and improve service delivery of needed resources to kinship families. This brief will identify existing supportive policies currently in place and present an overarching vision to elevate this support through innovation and inclusiveness.
Recommended Citation
Littlewood, K.
(2025). A Vision to Improve Policies for Grandfamilies. GrandFamilies: The Contemporary Journal of Research, Practice and Policy, 8 (1).
Available at: https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/grandfamilies/vol8/iss1/7
