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Grandparents? Rights?

By Janet Langjahr

Grandparents adore their grandchildren. And children often adore their grandparents.

But sometimes their parents or, their surviving parent, doesn’t.

And so it is that sometimes grandparents are denied contact with their grandchildren by one or both of their parents.

Prior to 2000, grandparents had various rights to visit with their grandchildren.

Often they were set out in expansive statutes … many still on the books.

But those rights were all but eliminated in a US Supreme Court decision that year that ultimately rocked the grandparents of the nation.

Today, grandparents’ rights are in truth a misnomer.

But in some states there are still certain situations where grandparents may be awarded custody of grandchildren or, to a lesser extent, visitation.

The most common reason though is temporary or more lasting unfitness (due to abandonment, abuse or neglect) of the parent or parents.

But grandparents haven’t given up. They are tirelessly lobbying to bring back grandparents’ rights to visitation under wider circumstances.

Read more in this Chillicothe [OH] Gazette article: Grandparent visitation rights can be a battle in Ohio.

Full post as published by Florida Divorce - Child Custody - Domestic Abuse Law on July 01, 2010 (boomark / email).