* Please Note we are currently updating our Handbook materials for caregivers: This 2010 edition of the GRG Handbook contains helpful information however there have been changes to the way the Family Court manages disputes involving the care of children and eligibility for Legal Aid. For further up to date information on the Family Court please click here.
Are you raising your grandchildren?
You are not alone.
Today, thousands of New Zealand grandparents have taken total responsibility for their grandchildren.
New Zealand child protection law requires that children should be placed within their extended family/whanau when in need of care in order that they may know their identity and experience a healthy sense of belonging. In a great many cases, it is grandparents who take on the caregiving role.
While some become caregivers as the result of a legal care and protection process, many others have just taken their grandchildren into their care in response to a family/whanau crisis, without any formal or statutory intervention.
Taking on small, often traumatised grandchildren in the latter part of life is no small task. The decision to care has, for many, been life changing and grandparents have often felt isolated and alone.
has been written because although your grandchildren may bring you great joy, assuming full-time care is often not without its struggles.