Posted on 04/26/2011 10:31:28 AM PDT by TheDingoAteMyBaby
With daffodils and tulips heralding the beginning of spring, Jane Jackson always delighted in the pleasure of opening up her summerhouse at this time of year. But not any more.
Today, the wooden cabin in Jane’s garden stands as an unhappy symbol of what she has lost. That summerhouse is where she used to enjoy playing with her only grandchild, Philippa, who is now ten, and whom Jane has not seen for four agonising years.
‘I treasure my memories of the last time we saw Philippa in 2007,’ says Jane.‘We had an Easter egg hunt in the garden and my granddaughter loved every minute of it. ‘Then we made Easter pictures in the summerhouse with sequins and paint. Some of the sequins got stuck between the floorboards, and I could weep when I spot one now. I feel empty, and incredibly sad, that my granddaughter has missed out on our family and that we have missed out on everything in her life.’ In common with more than a million grandparents in Britain, Jane and her husband Marc are not allowed to see their grandchild.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
This is a bad law. I am personally blessed to have excellent parents and in-laws who are a wonderful influence in my son’s life, but other people are not so lucky.
People should have the right to do what is best for their children and sometimes that means keeping the grandparents away. What if a grandparent pressured a grandchild to abandon the religion the child was raised in? The threat of losing contact is one way to keep grandparents from doing such things. Parents should be given the benefit of the doubt with regards to decisions about their children.
I’m not a babysitter - I’m a parent.
My parents were very strict about where I went and who I hung out with. Now they think I’m too strict.
Just more self centeredness.
Not surprised Obama is president.
b
I find things like that almost impossible to believe.
My mother would complain that she couldn’t see the grandkids. We lived 7 miles away and she only darkened our door twice (baptisms). We then moved 125 miles away and she darkened our door once.
I guess she didn’t want to see them that badly. Kids pick up on this kind of thing.
This is one of the consequences of being part of the Daycare generation.
When a child doesn’t see his parents for all hours of the day, he learns to do without them.
Then he stops thinking about them.
Seems like the father in this case is a real mamma’s boy. What kind of man moves away from his own child to be near Mommy? His unwillingness to be a man, fight the system and assert his own parental rights is at the root of his mother’s pain; that and the likelihood that he reproduced with a vindictive bitch.
Either that or the woman didn’t want the grandparent trying to turn her child into a version of this wuss of a man.
When divorce happens...the parties usually want to go on with their life...with minimal disturbance from the extended family of their ex-spouse. If the ex has visitation rights...they need to deal with their own family members to make arrangements for visitation during those times.... leaving the other ex-spouse out if it. Less drama and trauma.
I agree. This is the state telling parents who they must entrust their kids with. Very bad law in very personal affairs.
“People should have the right to do what is best for their children...”
Agreed. For example, what if the initial parents beat the heck out of their kids or were drunk? What if they aren’t able to tend to a baby? Parents are responsible for their kids PERIOD.
Grandparent visitation laws are often used to circumvent the denial of visitation or custody to their child of the grandchild.
The child becomes a “thing” for entertainment visitation or a tool to punish the custodial parent.
However, shortly after the funeral, when Susan was six months pregnant, she took off her wedding ring, packed a bag for herself and Thomas, and announced that they were going to stay with friends.
‘She said she needed to be with people her own age, which I understood,’ says Margaret. ‘A week later, she came round in a van and started loading it with her things from the house. She never explained why she was so eager to get away. My GP said it was the pregnancy hormones and that things would settle down once the baby was born.’ 'I loved my grandson so much. I often looked after him when he was little, and I yearn to know and love my granddaughter. I’d love to see her just once before I die'
Some months later, the RAF invited Margaret to her new granddaughter Trudy’s Christening. ‘Then I received a typed note from Susan saying I could attend the service, but wasn’t welcome at the party afterwards,’ says Margaret. ‘I’ve never even held my granddaughter, and I’ve seen her just that once.’
Margaret went to court and in 1999, a year after her son’s death, was granted permission to see her grandchildren. But the one subsequent visit with Thomas — Susan left Trudy with a friend — was unsuccessful.
Margaret explains: ‘We met at a house belonging to a friend of Susan’s. It was awkward because Susan stayed in one of the bedrooms and kept shouting down to Thomas to go up and see her.’
Without Susan’s co-operation, Margaret’s efforts to fix up more meetings proved fruitless.
Dear Margaret,
Perhaps the second child is not your granddaughter. Would Susan have been pregnant by someone other than your son? Wouldn't that explain Susan's actions so soon after her husband's death?
Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000):
Facts. Tommie Granville and Brad Troxel had two daughters during their relationship, but never married. After the two separated, Brad lived with his parents (the daughters’ paternal grandparents) and regularly brought his daughters to their home for weekend visitation. He committed suicide, but the Troxel grandparents continued to see the daughters on a regular basis. Several months later Granville informed the Troxels that she wished to limit their visitation to one short visit per month. The Troxels filed a petition for visitation, requesting two weekends overnight visitation per month and two weeks of visitation each summer.
Granville asked the court to order one day per month with no overnight stay. The Superior Court ordered visitation of one weekend per month, one week during the summer, and four hours on each of the Troxels’ birthdays.
Granville appealed, during which time she married Kelly Wynn. The Washington Court of Appeals remanded the case, with the Superior Court finding that the visitation was in the children’s best interests. Nine months later, Wynn adopted the daughters. The Court of Appeals reversed the order, finding that under statute nonparents lacked standing unless a custody action was pending. The Court did not pass on Granville’s constitutional challenge to the visitation statute....
The Court found the statute unconstitutional because it was overbroad in that any person could petition for visitation at any time, and also the presumption that a fit parent would act in the best interests of the child was not recognized.
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