ORIGINAL ARTICLE Grandparents matter: Optimizing grandparents' involvement after child safety concerns Susan Gair 1 | Ines Zuchowski 1 | Lyn Munns 1 | Ros Thorpe 2 | Debbie Henderson 3 1 James Cook University, Townsville, Australia 2 Family Inclusion Network, Townsville, Australia 3 Debbie Henderson Family Inclusion Network, Western Australia Correspondence Susan Gair, James Cook University, Townsville, Australia. Email: susan.gair@jcu.edu.au Funding information James Cook University, Australia Abstract Across Australia and internationally, growing numbers of grandparents are becoming primary carers for grandchildren, both within and outside of formal state care arrange- ments. Underlying factors include family breakdown, family circumstances where parents are unable to care for their children, or where there are child safety concerns. Some grandparents report a pattern of initially providing care for grandchildren but then experiencing reduced or lost contact that sometimes is not restored, in turn impacting ongoing relationships with grandchildren. A prevailing concern is the disproportional numbers of Aboriginal children in state care in all Australian states. Reported here are findings from a recent partnership research project focused on optimizing grandparent contact and ongoing relationships with grandchildren after child safety concerns. Qualitative in‐depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with 77 participants. Findings revealed grandparents yearned to maintain a significant role in grandchildren's lives after child safety issues emerged, however, they often felt powerless, unsupported, and sidelined from decision‐making in the best interests of their grandchildren. Participants made strong recommendations for more inclusive processes. KEYWORDS child safety, grandchildren, grandparents, kinship care, social work 1 | INTRODUCTION [S]ome grandparents … with genuine concerns and desires to be involved in, and support the lives of their grandchildren, are encountering problematic relationships with children's services (Tarrant, Featherstone, O'Dell, & Fraser, 2017, p. 362). The number of children receiving formal child protection services continues to trend upwards although some variation exists across Australian states and territories 1 (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW), 2017). Similarly, the number of children being cared for by grandparents is on the rise. Although grandparents involved in the care of grandchildren is nothing new, both in Australia and interna- tionally, grandparent‐headed families have become more common (Backhouse & Graham, 2012; Herlofson & Hagestad, 2012). Relevant literature identifies the growing, critical role of grandparents as formal or informal kin carers for their grandchildren (Backhouse & Graham, 2012; Boetto, 2010; Herlofson & Hagestad, 2012; Irizarry, Miller, & Bowden, 2016). This outcome often is due to family circumstances resulting from relationship breakdowns, substance abuse by adult children, poor parental mental health, poverty, housing instability, imprisonment of a parent, family violence, and/or where parents are unable or unwilling to care for children (Connor, 2006; Cox, 2014; Herlofson & Hagestad, 2012). It has been identified that grandparents' health can be impacted with the burden of parenting their grandchildren as they move towards retirement (Cox, 2014; Council on the Ageing, 2010; Drew & Silverstein, 2007; Tarrant et al., 2017). However, limited or lost contact with grandchildren also is said to impact grandparents' health and well‐being (Drew & Silverstein, 2007; Gair, 2017). Extensive DOI: 10.1111/cfs.12464 684 © 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd Child & Family Social Work. 2018;23:684–692. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/cfs