Thursday, October 5, 2006
Opinions on Grandparent Visitation
"Judges have been settling family disputes since King Solomon's proposed "solution" of splitting a baby in half in a custody battle. That Bible story has some parallels to how courts today grapple with demands of grandparents to visit their grandchildren over parental objections. Many thought the U.S. Supreme Court had essentially settled this issue in 2000 when it ruled that Tommie Granville, a mother in Washington state, could limit to once a month her two girls' contact with their paternal grandparents after the girls' father had committed suicide. But the issue is flaring anew. The highest courts of Pennsylvania, Utah and Colorado recently ordered grandparent visits in disputes strikingly similar to the 2000 case. The cases are heartbreaking because all involved a child who had lost a parent, and the surviving parent - whose fitness wasn't in question - wanted to limit visits." USA Today.com, Yahoo News Link to Article (last visited 10-5-06 NVS)
"Though it is undoubtedly true that the rights of the parents in a grandparent visitation dispute are important, it is also true that they are not the only people whose rights and desires should be considered. Most states have some version of a statute that gives grandparents the right to seek visitation with their grandchildren, and this right should not be overlooked. There are many reasons that parents and grandparents find themselves unable to agree on visitation, and those reasons can have more to do with issues in the relationship between the grandparents and their adult children than with the quality of the relationship between grandparent and grandchild. It is naive to assume that parents who are not abusive or neglectful will always make the right decision where their children are concerned." By Traci Truly, USA Today.com Yahoo News Link to Article (last visited 10-05-06 NVS)
https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/family_law/2006/10/opinions_on_gra.html
What about the rights of the grandchildren? They lose the love, the presents, the trips, the memories of visits in the country. They have less people in their lives who love them unconditionally, no matter what - - something we all need in this life. Most of all, they miss out on all the medical history information they will need to keep themselves (and their own children some day) healthy!
It is a shame that these spoiled prima donnas are now marrying, after being the very center of their parents' world all their lives. Now, they still feel they don't have to grow up and accommodate anyone else in this world. it's simple. They need to grow up and just get over it for their own kids' sake.
Every night at dinner, my husband and I pray for 8 families, all very sweet people and all very well known to us, suffering estrangement from the "ME generation" narcissists that are now grown and choosing to use their poor children as a rope in a tug-o-war! It's inexcusable that judges deny visitation to loving, decent grandparents.
Seriously, would one day a month, or every other month (supervised or unsupervised) kill the little witches who steal sons from their families? I'm sure God will deal with the people who separate loving grandparents from their loving grandchildren someday - - judges included! Our pastor says he's seeing more of this, now that these spoiled kids are having children of their own. He says it's usually in families that were close with their sons, and these girls find it threatening to share him and the grandkids with the grandparents.
It's just so sad that this is being allowed to go on in these poor families. Every day, it seems we hear of another family suffering such alienation. There ought to be a law! There really are a lot of people suffering from this problem out there. One friend told me it felt as if she had a son who was missing in action. She had not heard that he had passed away, but she had no idea where he was or if he was well and happy in his life. What good mother deserves that fate?
Grammy Candy
Posted by: Candy Grammy | Jan 1, 2009 8:05:28 PM