Grandparents frequently take in their grandchildren when the child needs a loving home. If the child’s primary custodial parent goes to rehab or to prison, is in the hospital or just too ill to care for the child, needs to leave the area for work, or in the worst case is deceased, grandparents will naturally take the child in. If it’s just for a few days, that’s just like a sleepover at Grammy’s or babysitting. There’s no need to think about paperwork. But if the situation is long-term, you need to make it legal.
Wait — what isn’t it already legal?
Under Arkansas law, grandparents have no legal rights to participation in their grandchildren’s lives.
If your son or daughter gets a divorce and does not receive custody of the children, you as the grandparent would have to file for visitation rights unless the custodial parent agrees that you can spend time with your grandchildren.
This means that even if your grandchild lives with you and you take care of them completely, you cannot legally make decisions about their healthcare or schooling, sign permission slips, or pick up prescriptions for them.
You definitely need to make it legal.
What if it’s not forever?
If your grandchild will live with you forever, perhaps because of the death of a parent or a decision by the courts that the parent is unfit, you should immediately begin adoption proceedings.
But what if you’re hoping that your son or daughter will be able to take on parental responsibilities again in the future sometime? Can you just keep quiet and hope nothing goes wrong?
The trouble is, something could go wrong. A medical emergency could make it obvious that you don’t have the legal right to give permission for surgery. A school that has previously been threatened with a lawsuit over allowing a noncustodial parent to sign a permission slip would not be casual about that kind of thing again. There are so many situations in which things could go wrong that it just doesn’t make sense to take the chance.
There’s a solution: guardianship. This is a legal relationship giving an adult the right and responsibility to care for a child temporarily.
Doesn’t a grandparent automatically get to adopt? Do I need a lawyer?
You may feel that the court would just automatically give custody to the grandparents of a child whose parents have died or lost parental rights. You might expect that you can just show up in court, show some ID, and go home with your grandchild.
It’s not that simple. Kinship adoption is often easier than other forms of adoption, but it’s not automatic. Even if it is not contested, there are still legal steps to go through. Having an experienced adoption lawyer at your side makes the entire process go more smoothly.
Heimer Law specializes in adoption. We offer a free initial consultation. Get in touch by calling (479) 225.9725 or use our simple contact form.
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