01 Aug 2006 10:50 PM

Custodial parenting ... sort of foster care by family members

When we contacted a lawyer about taking on the responsibility of raising my niece and nephew for my parents who adopted the children very young, we found out what we are asking for us custodianship rather than guardianship. Guardianship occurs when the parents are dead. Since my parents are merely feeling their age ... my dad nearly wheelchair bound due to an inflamed knee and my mom spending all her time running him to the doctors, we're taking over as parents.

The lawyer explained that since we were all in agreement about what had to take place, the process was fairly simple. What we learned about the process is it occurs in the following steps:

1) Meet with the lawyer, sign a retainer and pay the fees, and explain the problem

2) Meet with the lawyer to sign papers that

a) petition the court for custodianship

b) file a joinder that explains the parents agree to the custodianship

c) request CPS to perform a background check (required by law)

d) file a statement about visitation

e) file a statement about informing parents about moving

f) file a statement about something about the no contact order

g) explain the relationship between all the players

3) the CPS request gets filed and when their agreement comes back we can proceed to court

4) the lawyer files all the paperwork with the court to get the final disposition i.e. the change of custodianship

Why is all this needed? Well, only the parents of children can do a certain number of tasks that a custodian needs to have proof they are the legal representatives for this duty in order to act. These include:

1) registering a child in school

2) taking a child on an airplane

3) admitting a child into the hospital or taking them to a doctor or dentist

Live and learn...

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Sheri Fresonke Harper (4092) 26 Apr 2007 12:58 AM

Since I wrote this article, my niece and nephew moved to live with their birth mom, but I left it so people might learn something about the process.