Grandparents play an important role in the lives of their grandkids in many families. You know how much your grandchildren mean to you if you’re a grandmother. They’re presumably your family’s youngest members, and you’d do anything to make sure they have a wonderful life.

If divorce has a big impact on children’s relationships with their parents, it should come as no surprise that their ties with their grandparents will be impacted as well. Custody rulings and visitation arrangements between parents can take up a large portion of a child’s life, leaving little or no time for grandparents.

You might question if you’ll ever see your grandchildren again if your son or daughter’s divorce is finalized. Fortunately, the California courts recognize the value of grandparents’ involvement in the lives of their grandchildren. In California, a judge may award a grandparent petitioner visitation rights if the judge believes it is in the best interests of the child.

When Can Grandparents File a Visitation Request?

If grandparents don’t see their grandchildren as often as they’d like, they can’t just request visitation rights. The conditions in which visitation can be requested are, however, broad.

For a court to recognize a petition, one of the following conditions must often be true:

• One of the child’s parents is in jail or involuntarily institutionalized 

• The child no longer lives with either parent 

• A stepparent has filed adoption papers for the child 

• One of the parents has been missing for at least a month 

• One of the parents is separated or divorced

In the absence of such circumstances, a grandparent’s request for visitation may be denied. When both parents are married or have moved back in together after a divorce, the courts are unlikely to grant grandparent visitation.

Factors the Court Will Take into Account

The issue of granting adult visitation rights is one that California courts take very seriously. Because a grandmother is asking for visitation, the grandparent bears the burden of proving that visitation would be beneficial to the kid. In the end, the court will make a decision that it considers is in the best interests of the kid, but only after considering a variety of criteria

These criteria could include:

• History of domestic violence by the individual requesting visitation 
• Substance abuse issues with the individual seeking visitation 
• The nature and frequency of contact between the child and the individual seeking visitation if visitation is approved
• And, as always, the health, safety and best interests of the child

The court is less likely to award visitation to a child if they do not already have a relationship with their grandparents. If, on the other hand, a definite relationship has already been established, the court will be more inclined. The court will consider a child’s perspective if he or she is 14 years old or older, but this testimony will not necessarily affect the outcome.

Is it possible for grandparents to visit their grandchildren in foster care?

A grandparent’s visitation is not automatically stopped when a child is removed from their parents’ physical custody and placed in a foster home; instead, a judge must decide whether or not it should continue.

What Happens If My Grandchild Is Adopted by Someone Else?

Any visitation agreements that grandparents or other relatives have with a child who is adopted by someone other than a grandparent or stepparent will be terminated if the kid is adopted by someone other than a grandparent or stepparent. Adoption not only severs a child’s bond with their parents, but it also severs the child’s contact with other relatives, including grandparents.

Is it possible for grandparents to adopt a grandchild?

When a judge determines that parental custody is detrimental to the children’s best interests, grandparents can adopt their grandchildren with or without the agreement of the parents. When a parent is incarcerated, or there is sufficient worry that a parent would provide a healthy environment for a kid following release from incarceration, this can be the case.

A court may remove the rights of a problematic parent to allow a grandparent to adopt their grandchild if there is no other biological parent or another individual with parental rights over the child.

What if a child’s other grandparents are interested in adopting him or her?

If grandparents on both sides of a child’s family want to adopt, the court will consider what is best for the child’s best interests, including the child’s relationship with all of their grandparents and who can best meet the child’s basic requirements.