Last Friday I rescued a child from foster care.  The child left the state with his grandparents.

The child’s mother was drunk when she tried to pick him up from his daycare.  The daycare refused to let her leave with her child.  Instead, they called the police.  The police arrested the mother and put the child into police protective custody.

Fortunately, I already had met the grandparents when they were visiting from their home on the West Coast.  As soon as we learned the child was lost to foster care, we started working furiously on a voluntary guardianship.  We had to act fast, before the state sought temporary custody.

I have to credit the prosecutor and the SRS social worker for working openly with me and trusting this family.  They agreed to release the child if I could obtain guardianship orders in less than a day.  I faced a stressful, rushed day, trying to obtain signatures from the mother in Kansas City, the grandmother on the West Coast and the grandfather on a business trip in Chicago.  I found a judge on Friday afternoon to sign temporary orders, and then delivered the orders to the prosecutor and the SRS all before 5 pm.

With a lot of hard work and cooperation from all participants, the plan worked.  By Friday evening, the grandfather picked up the child from foster care.  By Saturday morning, he left with his grandchild to return home.

The child was spared months in foster care.  He can live with his grandparents instead.  His mother now has the opportunity to work on her own rehabilitation while knowing that her child is safe and well cared for.   The state saved scarce resources to use for other children who really need foster care.  Everyone wins.

How can you protect your grandchild if the parents are missing, abusive or inadequate?

Recently I filed two petitions for private children in need of care.  In both cases, the parents were missing or neglectful.  I represent the grandparents.

“Child in Need of Care” is the term Kansas uses for foster children.  Normally, the state files those petitions.  That is how children are placed in foster care.

In Kansas, though, any person may file a petition.  The two that I filed recently were both on behalf of grandparents.  That way, instead of placing the child in foster care, the child can be put in the custody of the grandparents.

There are other ways to protect your grandchildren, such as guardianship and grandparents’ visits.  The tool which will best save your grandchildren depends on your unique circumstances.  Use the resource box on the right if you want to contact me about a child who needs protection.

I just returned from a trial for termination of parental rights.  The child is a one year old girl.  Her father has been absent most of her life.  Her mother is recovering from addiction to drugs.

My client is the child’s maternal grandmother.  We hope that the state will allow the grandmother to adopt her grandchild.  To help that happen, the mother voluntarily relinquished her parental rights.

Nothing can be as emotional as a mother relinquishing her parental rights to her child.  Whatever mistakes she previously made, today the mother was brave and selfless in placing the needs of her child ahead of her own.  When she returned from presenting her relinquishment, she fell crying into the arms of her child’s grandmother.

An ever increasing phenomenon that I have come across in my law practice is grandparents wanting to provide for their grandchildren. Grandparents come to me frustrated, confused, and broken because their grandchildren are in state custody and they are being forced to choose between their grandchild and their own child.

Unfortunately, many grandparents that I have encountered in my practice have faced resistance from state agencies when they have tried to take on the responsibility of raising their grandchildren because of a parents inability to do so. The reality is grandparents are often forced to choose between supporting their own child or caring for their grandchild. A choice that is far too often minimized by professionals in the child in need of care system.

If grandparents choose to support their own child they are accused of enabling. Grandparents are very often faulted for their own child’s poor choices. Faced with these obstacles despite Kansas state law and family service policy and procedure manuals requiring state agencies and their contractors to turn to family first, grandparents wishing to be considered as a resource option are far too often snubbed. Social workers tend to rationalize that a grandparents alleged enabling behavior will continue in their rearing of their grandchild and the “mistakes” the grandparents made in raising their own child will be made again this time around.

If grandparents decide to support their own child in hopes of helping him/her recover from his/her own current plight and get him/her into a position where he/she is able to raise his/her own child, grandparents are often condemned. The best chance that these parents have at recovery is when they turn to their support network for help, their family. Social workers assigned to these parents are often overworked and underpaid and do not have the time, energy, or commitment to offer these parents the support they need to fully recover. But if grandparents offer their child support and that parent subsequently fails and does not successfully recover or does not recover quick enough and the court system finds the parent to be “unfit” the grandparents loose their grandchild to the state.

If a grandparent cuts their own child off they are heartless, and they risk losing him or her. If they support their child they are “unfit” to raise their own grandchild. This phenomenon that grandparents face is far too often minimized and most be more thoughtfully considered by social workers when making placement decisions.

New research shows caring for grandchildren generally does not have dramatic and widespread negative impacts on grandparents’ health. Instead, some grandparents are already ill before they begin caring for grandchildren and others don’t experience a health change.

The study involved over 13,000 grandparents between the ages of 50 and 80. The research contradicts a common belief that the stress associated with caring for grandchildren exceeds the capacity of aging grandparents. However, scholars involved in the current study found that even in cases where grandparents provide primary care for their grandchildren, their health is generally not undermined by the responsibility.

Imagine the fear, anger and concern over losing a four year old child who had lived with you since her birth. The family who came to my office were beside themselves with worry when the child’s mother sent her daughter to another part of the country to live with a man who is not her father.

The child’s aunt, uncle and grandmother came to our office. Four weeks ago, the mother took the child from their home and sent her to another part of the country. She now lives with the father of her half siblings.

The case demonstrates how child custody lawyers strategize solutions to problems. First, we began with the facts. The child is four years old. She has lived mostly with her aunt and uncle for most of her life. Her mother has many children, but none of them live with their mother. Some are in foster care.

Next, we had to analyze child custody jurisdiction under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act. Too many lawyers and even judges simplify and misunderstand child custody jurisdiction. For example, some mistakenly believe that the court where the child now resides has jurisdiction. Others think that the state where the child lived for the past six months keeps jurisdiction until the child lives somewhere else for six months. The accurate rule differs in ways that, though technical, make the difference in the life of a child.

After establishing jurisdiction, we had to consider various ways for a non-parent to take custody of a child. We considered private child in need of care actions, paternity actions, and grandparents’ visits. We advised our client on the benefits, risks, speed and costs of each option. We even had to consider the reputation and experiences of particular judges to know how a court might rule.

Ultimately, we brought all of our sophistication and experience to bear for the sole purpose of rescuing a small child from a dangerous circumstance.

Last Monday the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review an award of grandparent’s visits by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. The case concerned a conflict between a father and the mother of his deceased wife. The Pennsylvania state court ordered the father to allow visits between his son and the maternal grandmother.

This decision continues a long standing debate. On one side, parents assert their constitutional rights to raise their own children without state interference. On the other side, grandparents and child advocates argue for the rights of children to pursue their best interests even over the objections of their parents.

Parents won a major victory in 2000. In that year, the Supreme Court found a Washington state statute had been applied unconstitutionally. The Washington statute unconstitutionally allowed a court to substitute its judgment for the decision of fit parents regarding grandparents’ visits.

Twelve states have no provision for grandparents’ visits. The two states where I practice allow for some grandparents’ visits in certain circumstances. In Kansas, grandparents can get court ordered visits if they can prove that they have a substantial relationship with their grandchild and the visits serve the child’s best interest. In Missouri, courts can order grandparents’ visits, but not if the parents are married to each other.

Should courts require parents to allow their children to visit their grandparents? Please post your comment.