Legal Barriers

Legal Barriers

The estimated two million grandparent caregivers in the United States often encounter some awkward legal barriers to the ordinary exercise of the rights and responsibilities of parenting.

For instance, by a strange twist of public policy, these grandparents, many of whom are already retired, are subject to the provision of the federal welfare reform act that was intended to send welfare mothers back to work.

"It's cruel to ask this grandparent to go back to work when they have already opened home and heart to this child," says Giannina Perez, legislative assistant to California State Senator Hilda Solis (D.-El Monte), who's sponsoring state legislation to free grandparents from the federal mandate.

This is just one of the legal issues facing grandparents raising their children's children. For instance, few health insurance programs, including the U.S. military's retiree program, offer coverage for grandchildren unless they have been formally adopted. And grandparents--many of whom are reluctant to pursue formal adoption or legal guardianship in hopes that their own children will sooner or later rise to the occasion of parenthood--may meet resistance enrolling their grandchildren in school or acquiring medical care.

In California, a simple parenthood proxy enables grandparents to authorize school enrollments and medical care. Several other states have followed suit. For more information, check the Grandparent Caregiver Advocacy Project, an excellent and practical resource that gives a generic overview of child welfare law. You can call the project at (415) 255-7036.

The Grandparent Information Center of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) maintains a comprehensive education and referral service available at (202) 434-2296.