Bensmom Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 If you have read my "need unbiased advice" post, you know that we have been asked to raise a little girl who is extended family. Her grandma, who has cancer and is terminally ill, has legal guardianship. They have asked us to meet with an attorney and have guardianship signed over to me and my dh. Can anyone here tell me the legal differences between guardianship and adoption? What questions might we want to ask? (This is not a DHS case.) Any advice is most welcome!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 I looked through the info we got from the county. When you adopt a child, that child has the same legal status as a child born to you -inheritance rights, everything. This is what the paper said about legal guardianship "legal guardianship provides more permanency for children than Long Term Foster Care by suspending parental rights and giving the legal guardians the ability to make educational and medical decisions for the child." If you are willing to commit to this child, I'd go for adoption. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsH Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 The exact definition does vary by state, but yes, adoption is an absolutely permanent way to form a family. Guardianship just allows the guardian(s) to make decisions for the child in terms of school, medical care, etc. It does not necessarily terminate the rights of the birth parents, and I have no idea what the grandmother's rights would be (I'd imagine her guardianship would be terminated though). Adoption is also usually a much longer process and will vary greatly depending on your state laws. Getting guardianship will allow you to make all decisions for the girl, except they'd be trumped by her legal parents. I'd discuss that with the attorney and find out some likely scenarios. If parental rights are already terminated for whatever reason, then adoption may be more viable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 We opted to adopt our then baby granddaughter rather than become guardians because after consulting with our attorney we realized that she needed full protection from her unbalanced, self-serving and emotionally led, drug addicted birth mother (our former dil). Having the child become our adopted daughter put us in full charge the situation and we have never regretted it. If we'd opted to become guardians, everything could have been pulled out from under us at any given time. We just couldn't live with that. We went from being Nana & Papa to Mama & Daddy and have never looked back. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jenn- Posted November 10, 2012 Share Posted November 10, 2012 If you want to make this girl a permanent member of your family, you might go through the adoption process. I know a lady whose son and baby's mommy dropped their 1 year off with her 11 years ago. She has legal guardianship. Now the girl's bio mom has decided she wants a relationship and has taken the lady to court. After 11 years of ignoring her child, the court awarded her supervised visitation even though the girl has vehemently stated she wants nothing to do with her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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