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Your question comes at a very
Submitted by DakotaLegal on
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Your question comes at a very
Submitted by DakotaLegal on
Your question comes at a very good time in Georgia. There have been changes to the law since 2006 (and most recently, in 2012) to let grandparents ask for a larger role in raising and helping their grandkids as role models. Georgia State University, for example, has a program (Georgia State University’s Project Healthy Grandparents http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwalh/ ) precisely for “intergenerational” family supports, and can lead you to the right place for specific help. The general term for grandparent involvement is “kinship care.” This emphasizes the role that states often (but not always) put on keeping families “intact.” In Georgia, about a fifth of all adoptions go to kinship care, and that can be to your favor. There are even state-supported programs for grandparents, including brochures, teaching, and guidelines. This can be a valuable place to also network with state case workers, who can later help make good decisions for your grandkids…especially if you have reason to worry for their safety or well-being. http://dhs.georgia.gov/community-support-services .
Get the Facts, Get Support
Even before you decide to get legal help, consider contacting volunteer groups. This will let you have some facts about Georgia’s interest and policy in grandparent care.
There are also some volunteer groups you can work through to help plan a strategy. One of the keys in winning grandparent visitation is to understand how your particular facts match up with the elements of the law. Here’s a place where you can look up all the best contacts in Georgia, including support groups: http://www.grandsplace.org/gp8/ga.html .
Legal Rules
Georgia is pretty unique in trying to keep family ties alive. This has translated into some special rights of grandparents, not fond in any other states. Grandparents in Georgia have some limited rights to get medical care for their grandkids, for example. But a 2006 Georgia law giving grandparents rights to try and get custody went too far, according to a Georgia state Supreme Court case. This means that grandparents have fewer rights to get visitation or custody, when a child is living with both natural parents.
The new law allows a grandparent to get custody, but there are limits. One example is that a grandparent can file a legal petition only once every two years. http://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-19/chapter-7/article-1/19... .The idea here is to prevent a grandparent from harassing a parent with frequent court filings. The rule works both ways, too. If a grandparent wins a custody case, the natural parent (s) can only ask to terminate the grandparents’ custody once every two years, too.
To get low cost help, consider contacting the Georgia legal aid society, where help is based on income: http://www.georgialegalaid.org/ .
Georgia law also actually requires any adoption to try and keep a family tie (in your case, as a grandparent) unless that placement would jeopardize the child. This means you need to show that your interests and abilities of protecting the child (ren) are more important than any interest you may have in the parents’ contacts with the kids. For example, some grandparents see that their child is going to lose custody…and try to keep the tie alive by adopting the kids. These are case where the best interests of the kids are not front and center in the grandparent’s motives.
Finally, always keep in mind that no matter where the kids are located, every state will use this same standard, of being based on what it finds are “the best interests of the child(ren).” This is the child-centered focus you will have to have to get grandparent visitation.
Your question comes at a very good time in Georgia. There have been changes to the law since 2006 (and most recently, in 2012) to let grandparents ask for a larger role in raising and helping their grandkids as role models. Georgia State University, for example, has a program (Georgia State University’s Project Healthy Grandparents http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwalh/ ) precisely for “intergenerational” family supports, and can lead you to the right place for specific help. The general term for grandparent involvement is “kinship care.” This emphasizes the role that states often (but not always) put on keeping families “intact.” In Georgia, about a fifth of all adoptions go to kinship care, and that can be to your favor. There are even state-supported programs for grandparents, including brochures, teaching, and guidelines. This can be a valuable place to also network with state case workers, who can later help make good decisions for your grandkids…especially if you have reason to worry for their safety or well-being. http://dhs.georgia.gov/community-support-services .
Get the Facts, Get Support
Even before you decide to get legal help, consider contacting volunteer groups. This will let you have some facts about Georgia’s interest and policy in grandparent care.
There are also some volunteer groups you can work through to help plan a strategy. One of the keys in winning grandparent visitation is to understand how your particular facts match up with the elements of the law. Here’s a place where you can look up all the best contacts in Georgia, including support groups: http://www.grandsplace.org/gp8/ga.html .
Legal Rules
Georgia is pretty unique in trying to keep family ties alive. This has translated into some special rights of grandparents, not fond in any other states. Grandparents in Georgia have some limited rights to get medical care for their grandkids, for example. But a 2006 Georgia law giving grandparents rights to try and get custody went too far, according to a Georgia state Supreme Court case. This means that grandparents have fewer rights to get visitation or custody, when a child is living with both natural parents.
The new law allows a grandparent to get custody, but there are limits. One example is that a grandparent can file a legal petition only once every two years. http://law.justia.com/codes/georgia/2010/title-19/chapter-7/article-1/19... .The idea here is to prevent a grandparent from harassing a parent with frequent court filings. The rule works both ways, too. If a grandparent wins a custody case, the natural parent (s) can only ask to terminate the grandparents’ custody once every two years, too.
To get low cost help, consider contacting the Georgia legal aid society, where help is based on income: http://www.georgialegalaid.org/ .
Georgia law also actually requires any adoption to try and keep a family tie (in your case, as a grandparent) unless that placement would jeopardize the child. This means you need to show that your interests and abilities of protecting the child (ren) are more important than any interest you may have in the parents’ contacts with the kids. For example, some grandparents see that their child is going to lose custody…and try to keep the tie alive by adopting the kids. These are case where the best interests of the kids are not front and center in the grandparent’s motives.
Finally, always keep in mind that no matter where the kids are located, every state will use this same standard, of being based on what it finds are “the best interests of the child(ren).” This is the child-centered focus you will have to have to get grandparent visitation.