Norah Keating, International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Canada

Shanika Donalds, GEF Seniors Housing, Canada

Elisabeth Schroeder-Butterfill, University of Southampton, United Kingdom

Janet Ananias, University of Namibia, Namibia

Jaco Hoffman, North-West University, South Africa

Families are at the core of our conversations about ageing well. We hold powerful but often disparate assumptions about the place of families in the lives of older adults, about who are members of their families and about the nature of their mutual obligations. As described in the Families theme of the conference, families are seen as sources of wisdom, of generational connectedness and of transfer of material resources. Yet they also are viewed as filled with ambiguities and tensions and as having inadequate resources to support their members. We count on families. We worry about families. We expect them to be there for older members.

 

Paradoxically, while we all know our own families because we inhabit them, once we move beyond the personal, we don’t know them well at all. For example, most countries have census’ of populations that provide information about family members who live together in households, but we rarely count those who are elsewhere. Further, we have laws and customs about such family connections as marriage and parenting, but social practices may be at odds with these structures. Such contradictions and disconnections make it difficult to create sound family policy or to intervene in ways that are supportive.

 

In this symposium we will present a framework for thinking about families and their diversities and provide evidence from different world regions of who are family members of older adults and the extent to which family support is provided.

 

In the first presentation, Keating sets out the macro policy discussions on families which illustrate global values around the place of families in the lives of older persons. She proposes a set of family lenses that can help us better see families. Donalds discusses her work with older immigrants from the Caribbean, illustrating their narratives of how they created and recreated their families across time and distance. Schroeder-Butterfill speaks to the variety of family structures in Indonesia and how older persons create their support network when family resources are limited. Ananias challenges dominant assumptions about availability of family carers in Namibia against a backdrop of experience significant socio-economic and relational difficulties and practical challenges including inadequate transport to distant services

 

Hoffman will then moderate a discussion with panel members about how their insights and evidence about families might contribute to creation of social policy that supports them.

Norah Keating’s career has been devoted to family research and family practice and to informing and challenging thinking about families across the life course. She has masters’ degrees in Developmental Psychology and in Marriage and Family Therapy, and a PhD in Family Studies. Her current academic appointments are at universities in three world regions: University of Alberta, Canada; Stirling University, UK; and North-West University, South Africa. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences; the Academy of Social Sciences (UK) and the Gerontological Society of America.

 

Her professional appointments have included Chair of the Board of Directors of the Vanier Institute of the Family; President of the Canadian Association on Gerontology and Chair of the North American Region of the International Association of Gerontology and Geriatrics. She is Director of the IAGG Global Social Issues on Ageing.

 

Recent publications on families include a research agenda to frame the action items on families and communities for the UN Decade of Healthy Ageing; on Megatrends and Families for UNDESA for the 30th Anniversary of the UN International Year of the Family and on family caregiving in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

 

Shanika Donalds is the Director of Housing and Client Services at GEF Seniors Housing. She leads the organization’s strategic initiatives and research partnerships that address wellbeing needs of older clients. Shanika completed her BSc. and MSc in Social Work at the University of West Indies, Mona and is a Registered Social Worker. She holds a PhD in Family Studies from the University of Alberta, where her research focused on family life course of older migrants from the Caribbean.

 

Her research on families over the life course, informs her current work on the social and structural factors shaping older adults’ family experiences. As an active research collaborator, Shanika partners with academics to translate findings into practical solutions that improve housing models, service delivery, and policy development Through innovation and evidence-based strategies, her work advances sustainable, person-centered approaches that promote aging in the right place and enhance wellbeing for older adults.

 

She advocates for evidence-based interventions and believes that the intersection between research and intervention is where innovative solutions, policies, and practices to improve service delivery and client outcomes can be achieved.

 

 

Elisabeth Schroeder-Butterfill is Associate Professor in Gerontology and Head of Department of Gerontology at the University of Southampton, UK. She studied at the University of Oxford and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her academic background combines anthropology and demography. She has conducted research on older people’s support and care networks, the impact of migration on older people’s support, the sources of vulnerability in later life. Most of her research focuses on old age in Indonesia. She recently led a UKRI-funded comparative project on the Care Networks of Older People in Indonesia, involving ethnographic research in five communities. Elisabeth is on the editorial board for Ageing and Society and Journal of Cross-cultural Gerontology.

 

 

Janet Ananias is an Associate Professor of Social Work and is teaching in the Department of Psychology and Social Work at the University of Namibia. She holds a PhD in Social Work from the North West University, Potchefstroom campus, South Africa. Her research interests include amongst others social gerontology, intergenerational care, mental health, child neglect, child fosterage, and early childhood development. She has presented at various national and international conferences. She serves as a member of the Southern African Journal of Social Work and Social Development editorial board. She served as the President of the Namibia Social Workers Association (NASWA) from 2008 to 2010, and was the Head of Department of Social Work from 2015 to 2021. She is a member of the African Research on Aging Network (AFRAN), a member of the Care for Older Persons in Southern African Network (COPSAN). Her current research project focuses on family caregiving of older persons in Southern Africa.

 

 

Jaco Hoffman (DPhil, Oxon) is Professor of Socio-Gerontology in the Optentia Research Unit, North- West University, South Africa where he leads the Ageing and Generational Dynamics in Africa (AGenDA) programme and Professorial Fellow at the Oxford Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, UK where he co-ordinates the African Research Network on Ageing (AFRAN). He is Honorary Professor in the Institute of Ageing in Africa, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town; a past president of the South African Gerontological Association (SAGA) and founding member of the South African Older Persons Forum. Jaco co-directs the International Longevity Centre (ILC) South Africa and is a director of the International Federation of Ageing (IFA) Board as well as Trustee of HelpAge International. He also serves as a Lancet Journal Commissioner on Long-Term Care for Older Persons.