An Attachment and School Satisfaction Framework for Helping Children Raised By Grandparents

The numbers of children raised by their grandparents are increasing. Although placement with their grandparents may be the best setting for children whose parents can no longer care for them, research suggests the children may experience difficult school functioning such as behavioral, emotional, and academic problems. Additionally, the grandparents often are subject to high levels of stress that adversely affects their physical and emotional well-being. The aforementioned problems frequently occur, secondary to relational issues. Attachment and school satisfaction constructs include human relational factors that are important to understanding the school-related functioning of children raised by grandparents. In this article, the implications of attachment and school satisfaction on the children's functioning are described. The constructs offer relational strategies to improve the educational and developmental trajectories of children raised by their grandparents. An attachment model and framework, based on the constructs, is described to guide prevention and intervention with these families.