When Grandparents Want Custody of Their Grandchildren
Grandparents are an invaluable resource for their grandchildren. There are a number of situations which would be in the children’s best interest for the grandparents to seek custody of their grandchildren. Situations where the parents are abusive, neglectful, unavailable, incarcerated, or upon the death of one of the parents and the unavailability of the other, are examples of those situations where a grandparent can step in and seek custody of grandchildren. If grandparents do not step in, as in the aforementioned examples, the custody of their grandchildren will be given to foster parents. Foster parents may be kind, loving individuals but they will not be blood relatives of the children.
Grandparents’ Custody Litigation
Sometimes, grandparents have to litigate with their own children to obtain custody of the grandchildren. Parental rights to custody assumes it is in the children’s best interests to be raised by one or both of their parents. When a grandparent takes legal action to obtain custody of their grandchildren, they must show to the court it is in the children’s best interest they raise the children instead of the biological parent or parents of the children. The issue concerning parental rights is a barrier which grandparents must overcome by proving either unfitness, unavailability, or other reasons why the natural parents should not be the residential custodial parents of their children.
