Grandparents Raising Children Support Group

This community is dedicated to grandparents who are the primary caregivers of their grandchildren. In cases where the parents are not willing or able to provide adequate care for their children, grandparents may take on the role of primary caregivers. Join the support group to find support, share your experience, and get advice from other members.

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/ Grandparents Raising Children Support Group

Has anyone been sued for Guardianship

dianaconroy
dianaconroy
My husband and were awarded guardianship of our GK on April 13th, I have a feeling that their bio-dad that never showed up once for court is going to sue us for custody or visitation, but something is going on. The kids have never lived with him, he's never supported them, and all of a sudden he's buying shoes for them and makes reference to how he and his new girlfriend are making the house "a nice place to live", for the kids. He also came to our courthouse which is one hour away from were he lives to get copies of all the court paperwork - dumb ass, we would have given hiim a copy. What's more he never even makes an effort to come to the house to see his kids, we have to drive the kids to him everyother week which he's come to expect. But we're cutting him off, next week, we're telling him no more driving an hour for him to see the kids. I don't think he'll have much of a chance to get custody since, they're never lived with him, he was in rehab last summer has been out for about one year, but in the last 4 weeks he's been high when we take the kids to him. Has anyone ever been taken to court for visitation or guardianship> what were the results.
mommagain
mommagain
I have not been sued for custody or visitation however:

We have custody of our GS. DD is the bio, she has never been active in his life she is more like an adult sister to a younger brother. Will last year she had another baby and suddenly decided she wanted her son back... HA!! I called my attorney she told me this.

She could regain custody IF she tried but she would have to jump through hoops to do it so start making her jump before we went to court and 99% of the time they give up on it before it ever gets close to court.this is what she told me to do. She said this is what the court would order.

First we had to establish a child support agreement (amount and date due). Then I gave her specific days and time for SUPERVISED visits. This would remain for 4 months then if that went well we would move to UNSUPERVISED day visits for 4 months if that went well we moved to a one night a week sleep over for 3-4 months then weekend over nights for 3-4 months, if all went well she would get him for one week a month for 4 months then move to two weeks, so forth and so on. So she agreed to it. One year later I have not gotten one child support payment, and her supervised visits hasn't started yet. However about two weeks of "I'm going to be down this weekend" she told me she acted too quickly that GS was better off with us.

now my point... LOL...

DO NOT make it easy for him. and if he is HIGH when he comes around to get the kids DO NOT allow them to go with him. document, document, document!!
GMaWilli
GMaWilli
Ditto!!!!
grandmagrandma
grandmagrandma
absolutely. If you have guardianship, its your way, your rules. If they dont like it, pay the court fees and ask for a hearing. Mine never liked the rules. she only wanted it her way, and I wasnt playing. when she would start to threaten, I would say _Have at it.-if you dont like the way it is, try following a court mandated reunification schedule. I would always get-but why cant we just do this between us without court involvement. After all we are family. No way was I going out of my way for her. and no way could she stick to anything on her own. Its the same with the adoption. she is still trying to get me to call it all off in court. she promises she will never take him away from us, she just doesnt think we need to have out siders involved. To that I say Bull sh**.
dianaconroy
dianaconroy
Thanks for your responses. Our visits are supervised as the court has ordered. So I would never let the kids go with either parent without our supervision. I guess I have to feel more empowered then I do.
nutsandbolts
nutsandbolts
If the visits are court order supervised, you can always tell the bios, they can either work with you or they can hire an agency for the visits, Im sure the bios are not wanting to pay someone to tell them what day and times they will see the children, but it will get you off the hook on putting up with their crap.
deleted_user
deleted_user
In our situation, the children have been with me a year. The mother started out with supervised visitation, but Department of Social Services would come pick up my gs's ages 11 and 13 and the would visit for an hour. In January their older brother by another father was allowed to facilitate the visits with the mother. I don't know where you are or what the policys are there, but maybe Social Services will get involved with the visitation. I hope everything goes well for you. It is a long hard struggle, trying to figure out what is going on. They have had so many reviews of the case, and now after an entire year she is starting to work with DSS and get herself together. My son, their father died back in Sept of 2010. The boys need stability, they need to know where they will live. I just find I want to cry most the time. Sorry to get off the subject so. I am a single grandparent, retired , and I need a break.
thanks for being here
daisydduck
daisydduck
He probably smells a way he will get money for kids which he can spend on himself. He can't sue you for guardianship. However, as the bio parent, he can go to court to ask for custody of his children. Remember that guardianship, even if given by court, can be cancelled by parent IF they can prove they are capable of beiing a parent. Given the circumstances, he would have to prove that he is fit to parent and that he has a job and a place to live in where the kids can live also. The fact that he has shown no interest in the children until now will not be good for him. However, if he can show he is not on drugs, has a job, a house and a stable relationship, the courts could lean towards giving him a chance. I agree with your decision not to let him see kids if he is high. Document why you think he is high and your concern for kids' safety. California used to be considered child friendly in these cases but lately they seem to be leaning to bio parents. It just seems like they are not happy with screwing up their own lives. They have to screw up everyone else's too.