What's a Grandparent to Do?

Abstract

Grandparents have recently been the subject of much research; however, there has been little discussion of how they are affected by social institutions outside the extended family. This article focuses on government expectations of family relationships by describing state legislation regarding grandparents. These statutes are spread throughout all areas of law, not only family code. Some evidence exists for the importance of state interests and class issues in legislation. Grandparents are mentioned in statutes and are included in definitions of family more often than grandchildren, implying that children are defined in relation to their parents, whereas grandparents are defined in relation to the children. Grandparents appear to have more legal rights than responsibilities to grandchildren, but both privileges and obligations seem to be limited to situations of disruption in the middle generation.