GRANDFAMILIES

A series of firsthand accounts of the ways in which grandparents and other relatives can change children’s lives.

In her nonfiction debut, Butts takes as her subject the “thousands of families in which a grandparent or another close relative or family friend has said yes to caring for a child.” She writes about the anecdotal and documented advantages of what she refers to as collective, multigenerational care, adopting the term “grandfamilies” (which originated in a Boston housing project) for these extended family caregiving circles. The author asserts that, while the term may be relatively new, the reality has always been very much a part of American life, and that caregivers in these contexts should be supported and considered every bit as important as those in direct parental roles. Grandfamilies, she writes, “fight systems that abandon them…do time in waiting rooms and court hearings…put themselves at financial risk and sacrifice their own health,” all to give otherwise-rootless or at-risk kids opportunities for being loved and sheltered. To underscore and personalize these points, Butts includes in every chapter firsthand accounts of the pivotal role grandparents can play. Brittney Barros recounts her own harrowing experiences in foster care and the efforts her grandmother made to help her until, years later, the older woman was diagnosed with dementia and their roles changed. “In my family, we have all been caregivers,” she recalls. “It’s not just my grandmother taking care of me, or my taking care of her.” Although the author’s own discussions of these caregiving networks are always well supported and fascinating, it’s the personal accounts that give the book its life, colorfully illustrating so many of the ways in which grandfamilies can come together to protect their most vulnerable members. Butts notes how such systems have been strongly advocated for by anthropologists (including Margaret Mead), and these family dynamics will be warmly recognizable to many readers.

An informed and engaging overview of the larger family systems so many young people need.