Dr. LaShawnDa Pittman spent years studying the lives of dozens of grandmothers in the Chicago area for her book, Grandmothering While Black.

“Despite managing the simultaneity of love and coercion,” she writes, “the Black grandmothers in this study demonstrated their love for their grandchildren in their willingness to provide care, as an extension of parenting and sometimes in place of it.”

Dr. Pittman explored that balance of love and coercion and many other takeaways from her work.

Reading Room

Grandmothering While Black: A Twenty-First Century Story of Love, Coercion, and Survival
https://www.drlashawndapittman.com/

Family Ties: Analysis From a State-By-State Survey of Kinship Care Policies
https://www.aecf.org/resources/family-ties

White House Announces Slate of Actions on Child Welfare
https://bit.ly/3ZFa7h