Grandparents' Rights and Court

As a Grandmother who loves her grandchildren very much and enjoys spending time with them, I find that I have no rights to do that without a Judge in a courtroom telling me if I can or not, when I can, where I can and for how long at a time.  Just being a paternal or maternal grandparent by blood does not mean anyone in the United States has an inherent right to be a part of their grandchild's life!

Grandparents' Rights and court seem to go hand in hand in our present day society.  Whereas in the past, grandparents were not only allowed but expected to step in and help with grandchildren, nowadays, thousands and thousands of grandparents in the US are finding that their rights and help comes after the village.

"It takes a village to raise a child" became a popular slogan back in the 1990's.  Hillary Clinton coined the phrase after she helped to get guidelines in place for parental rights, grandparents rights, foster care and adoption guidelines, etc.  By the time all the new guidelines and laws were in place, she was right - It takes a village to raise a child these days, because family is discounted and often prevented from helping to care for and raise the children within their family.

More often than not, family members are restricted in their involvement with grandchildren or nieces and nephews due to the actions of one or both of the child's parents.  As a mode of recompense, there are a few laws available to address this matter.  Depending upon the state a child resides in and their specific laws, various defining factors must exist in order to file a petition for a judge to hear the evidence and possibly issue an order for the family to visit or a grandparent to have contact with many children.  Sometimes this is because of a criminal act and sometimes it is because one parent or the other simply objects to sharing the child with the other parent's family.

Trying to establish grandparents rights in court can be extremely emotional and difficult to accomplish.  To begin with one has to find out if they even qualify to file.  Just because you are the grandparent does not give you the right to file for grandparents' rights in many states.  Some states require that specific criteria has to be met to file and then the grandparent must show just cause as to why they should be given any rights to visit or have a relationship with the child.  You must prove that you have a better case for why you should be allowed to be included in the child's life than the parents or state have to keep you out of their life and away from the child.

Court can be surprisingly daunting and expensive.  While an extremely stressful situation, the results can be rewarding enough to more than compensate for the stress and expense.  Having grandparents' rights upheld and put into place by the court can place that precious child back in your life and you back in theirs.  With the rights comes the responsibility of making sure decisions you make in the future have no negative consequences upon the child and that you act with his/her best interest in mind at all times.  Otherwise, you could find your self back in court facing a judge deciding if you get to keep whatever rights you won the first time around.

I believe that if we went back to families helping family members, grandparents caring for grandchildren, aunts and uncles being role models and helpers, parents realizing there are two parents for each child not just one, and courts looking for family members to care for children when needed rather than the current rush to foster care, more children would grow up with a true sense of identity and self worth.

Grandparents rights and court go hand in hand across this country currently.  The disconnect of families has grown into a problem that fills our courts daily.  Grandparents should prepare when the first grandchild is born.  Getting an agreement signed between grandparents and parents to legally ensure visitation and inclusion in children's lives is a document as necessary in this day and age as prenuptial agreements, living wills and last wills are.  To protect your rights and be certain that things will work out as close to your expectations as possible, don't procrastinate having an agreement drawn up, signed and filed.  If you put it off, the day may come when you find it is too late to get one signed and you are in for the fight of your life to be able to continue to be a part of your grandchildren's lives.


Just Me Granny D