- my iParenting
- quick clicks
- grandparents today articles
- grandparents today q&a
- community & groups
- research baby names
- prepare a birth plan
- content channels
- ip channel rss feeds
- read birth stories
- read parenting stories
- recommended books
- e-newsletters
- safety recalls
- ip diaries
- ip store
- mom of the month
- dad of the month
- editor's letter
- letters to the editor
From Our Sponsors
- e-newsletters
- Sign up to receive our free weekly e-newsletters
- award-winning products
The iParenting Media Awards program helps parents find the best products for their families.
Moral Versus Legal
A Primer on Grandparents' Rights By Kelly Burgess
In an ideal world, grandparents' rights would not be an issue at all. Unfortunately, in the very human world we live in, resentments new and old, a desire for family autonomy and shifting family paradigms sometimes lead parents to force their child's grandparents out of their lives.
While grandparents don't actually have the legal right to see that child, what they do have is the right to petition the court for visitation. Sometimes legal action makes matters worse, but sometimes it gives the grandparent precious time with a precious child.
Six days later, Castellano was served with papers ordering her to surrender Jordan to his father in Florida, whom he'd seen only a few times. Castellano was devastated and frantic.
"I thought if I went to court and told the judge the truth, he'd do something to help me," Castellano says. "Instead, he said that since I was just a grandmother I had no right to be there and he fined me $10,000. After that, I went to see anyone I could think of, but no one could help me. The worst part was that the father didn't even want Jordan; he just wanted to give him to his own parents. Finally, I made such a fuss that the father took Jordan and I'm now allowed to see him once every six weeks, but at one point a judge took out a restraining order on me because Jordan would get so upset when we left each other. He said that we were too bonded for this to be in Jordan's best interests."