Grandparenting Children with Disabilities

Childhood disabilities, particularly cognitive disabilities, are on the rise yet social programs and services to help US families respond to disabilities are not. Many families turn to grandparents for assistance juggling work, family responsibilities, and specialized therapies. This book is based on in-depth interviews with grandparents who are providing at least some care to grandchildren with disabilities. The analyses will help to better understand (1) under what conditions grandparents provide care and support, (2) what types and intensities of care and support grandparents provide, and (3) the impact of that care and support on grandparents' social, emotional, physical, and financial wellbeing.

Madonna Harrington Meyer, PhD, is University Professor at Syracuse University. She is professor of sociology at the Maxwell School of Public Affairs, and Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professor of Teaching Excellence. She is senior research associate at the Center for Policy Research and faculty affiliate at the Aging Studies Institute. She is co-editor, with Ynesse Abdul-Malak of Grandparenting in the United States (2016). She is co-editor with Elizabeth Daniele of Gerontology: Changes, Challenges, and Solutions (2016). She is author of Grandmothers at Work: Juggling Families and Jobs (2014), and co-author with Pamela Herd of Market Friendly or Family Friendly? The State and Gender Inequality in Old Age (2007), both of which won the Gerontological Society of America’s Kalish Book Award. She is editor of Care Work: Gender, Labor, and the Welfare State (2000). She has published over 50 scholarly articles; her work appears in leading journals including American Sociological Review, Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Gender & Society, and Social Problems. Her research has been reported in the media including New York Times, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Christian Science Monitor, and LA Times. In 2016 she was named winner of the American Sociological Association (ASA) Section on Aging and the Life Course (SALC) Matilda White Riley Distinguished Scholar Award. Ynesse Abdul-Malak, RN, MPH, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Colgate University and a Senior Research Fellow at the Burton Blatt Institute (BBI) of Syracuse University. She is a seasoned researcher with expertise in research involved different types of methodology on issues of racial and gender inequality, immigration, health disparity, and disability studies. She is co-editor, with Madonna Harrington Meyer of Grandparenting in the United States (2016).