| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/1/2008 2:51:36 PM | A father gives up parental rights at birth.
Mom is arrested for selling meth out of the home the 2 year old child is living in. In Oklahoma, it can be construed as Aggravated Child Abuse(and in this particular case, it was).
The Grandparents can't get child protective services to approve temporary custody because they're backlogged on house checks.
The little girl is living in a temporary foster home for the time being.
However, the Grandparents receive a bill from the State for care of the child, stating that they have guardianship as her closest living relatives and are therefore responsible for paying for her upkeep.
Do the Grandparents not have a RIGHT to custody, seeing as the State has determined them as her Guardians?
Are we relying to heavily on Child Protective Services to determine custody(the judge in the case has stated that he will not grant custody until he has a recommendation from CPS)?
Sorry about just tossing this in there. I ran into it while doing some legal research and it disturbed me. I'm leaving it for discussion, although to me it should be pretty clear cut, as CPS had already done a background check and the Grandparents passed with flying colors. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/1/2008 3:46:38 PM | | what do you mean, backlogged on house checks? I would think that family members should get the child for temporary custody at least since the child is around familiar people. That's too bad for the child. too bad that the grandparents didn't get her when their daughter was running a meth lab | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 12:30:34 AM | This smacks of the typical corruption that exists in these govt agencies.
The court won't rule, because it means the C PS will be able to contiune to steal from the grandparents. This is how they operate, organised crime within the govt.
Of course the child should have automatically gone to the grandparents, providing the child is going to be safe there.
The govt has no right to foster out the child and to use house checks as an excuse is pretty pathetic. I would have thought that the child needed emergency care and this should have taken precendence. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 3:02:11 AM | Passing a background check does not constitute making sure that a home is appropriate for children. If CPS falsified a statement to the court and then something happened to the children because the home was dangerous or something else, there would obviously be a problem too.
The court could easily have ordered CPS to visit that house immediately, effectively edging out the backlog and settling the case. It is the court, not CPS with the problem. I do belive the state is wrong to try to bill the grandparents as guardians when the state refuses to surrender the children into the custody of the grandparents. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 3:32:48 AM | | I would have someone look into this. Guardianship doesn't just fall to this person or that person. Once a parent has lost custody or guardianship, guardianship goes to the state until it is given or awarded to someone else. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 7:24:25 AM | Living in OK and having worked in family/juvenile court for 15 years I feel confident in my feeling that some piece(s) of info are missing from this. If grandparents have not been granted custody then they have no legal financial obligation toward the child.
Generally speaking, grandparents have no rights unless an existing custodial parent is totally blocking any access the child. Then they can challenge for limited visitation.
It is a breach of the judicial processs for the court to make a determination without hearing the facts, in this case receipt and consideration of the investigations and recommendations. In one breath it is insinuated that the 'house check' (home study) has not been done due to a backlog. Next, it is claimed that the grandparents passed with flying colors. If a home study had not been completed or presented to the court there's really no way for more than a few people within the agency to know what that report says. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 9:36:53 AM | wind, I agree that some pieces, important pieces are missing. As I stated, I ran across those minimal details while doing research. Correct me if I'm wrong, but details of a pending case are not public knowledge when they regard a minor. Only the sex and age was given.
That was, perhaps, the reason I posted it. What little bit I read made absolutely no sense.. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 1:09:44 PM | Details of any case pending or concluded that regard a minor are not available for public records searches because they are automatically sealed and must undergo a judicial process to make them available to any type of information search. When a child comes of age, these records are normally sealed permanently and not even available to police investigations without completing the appropriate paperwork.
Grandparents are treated with no special consideration by the courts and their homes are evaluated with the same rigor used for any foster facility. In times of crisis, children are often placed with grandparents on an emergency basis the day that something occurs like a car accident that incapacitates the parents but CPS is required to follow up and make sure that the home is adequate for a more long-term situation.
The only thing that is strange about the situation you describe is the state trying to bill the grandparents for the care of the children when they do not apparently have custody or legal guardianship of the children. Now, if they are legal guardians and the children were not supposed to be with the mother, then it would actually make sense.
Rereading the original post, the court would not automatically confer guardianship on the grandparents as the surviving relatives even if no other relatives existed without going through the process of making sure they are fit to parent the children. Sounds like somone at the state who is really stupid and doesn't consider legal repercussions figured it was a way to recoup money. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 2:16:38 PM | package:
I don't know about the rest of the country, or other countries, for that matter, but Oklahoma will get any money they can, any way they can. This is one of the worst states for NCP's, for instance. I.E., my ex husband pays his child support on the last day of the month it's due. But, the State charges him interest if it's not paid by the 1st of the month it's due, yet they're the ones who set it up so he could pay it at the end of the month. *sighs* Oklahoma - Where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing....
I don't know that the state billing the Grandparents is so strange or not. I've seen a lot of people getting bills for that very thing when custody wasn't an issue on their part. A few years ago, one of my clients received a bill from them, and he'd been ruled out as the child's biological father. Some days it just doesn't pay to get out of bed, I suppose. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/2/2008 2:44:40 PM | | Find a recommended child Pdoc in the county that has jurisdiction and have them recommend attorneys they have worked with in these type of court cases. Most states will allow custody to be revisited. Will the father come forward and re establish custody and then grant that custody to the grandparents? | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/3/2008 2:35:29 PM | | Juvenile court records are confidential per both Federal and State statutes. At what website did you obtain the information? I suspect it is not legitimate (actually court or agency connected) and the information there cannot be trusted for accuracy. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/3/2008 2:41:06 PM |
I don't know about the rest of the country, or other countries, for that matter, but Oklahoma will get any money they can, any way they can. This is one of the worst states for NCP's, for instance. I.E., my ex husband pays his child support on the last day of the month it's due. But, the State charges him interest if it's not paid by the 1st of the month it's due, yet they're the ones who set it up so he could pay it at the end of the month. *sighs* Oklahoma - Where the left hand doesn't know what the right hand is doing....
I haven't found OK to be particularly adept at the collection of child support. They suspended my kids' father's trade license. "Yeah! That'll insure he gets a job and pays child support! Morons!" He wanted to go to the mideast to work for a year so he could pay over $25,000 in arrears. They denied him a passport! WTH?! And everytime they update my records I have to contact them to request they correct something they input wrong. God forbid I should go to the office in person. I find it difficult to not try knocking sense into people that stupid.  | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/3/2008 6:50:34 PM | | interesting i once knew a case where the father gave up his rights to a child and still had to pay child support court ordered.another where a teen got another teen pregnant and his parents had to pay c/s until he was out of high school so anything is possible.grandparents have come a long way in the court system over the last ten years.i say they should at least get custody if they are considered the nearest stable relative . | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/3/2008 7:55:28 PM | As far as I know guardianship can not be forced, I was a law student just for records sake. So until the grandparents are legal gardians of the child and have her in their custody they are not responsible for anything. The foster family at the time they take her in receive money from the state for that child's up keep. Hense the reason of foster care. However, the State can go after the mom in jail for the money. Her neglegence cause the child to unwillfully be put into foster care which then resulted in costs of maintanence of the child.
The loop hole is if the mother was under the age of 16 when she had her daughter. In that case the grandparents were/are the legal guardians until a social worker (usually asigned by the school system or hospital) deems the mother legally compitent to take responsibility of her own child and reverse custody from the grandparents to the mother. | |
|
| Who has the right to custody??
Posted: 7/3/2008 10:27:33 PM | LOL Wind
The last time my ex tried going by the CS office, he couldn't get in. They put a key code on the door along with a sign that said 'appointments arranged by telephone only' and then gave the number. The number is the State's toll-free, and they didn't know anything about setting appointments.
Oh, and they took my ex hubbys HUNTING license, but not his driver's license, nor did they give him a wage assignment. WOW.. Not hunting will collect that child support right in!
Just curious, wind, does your ex live in OK?? I've heard that CP's who live here, but the NCP lives in TX have one h3ll of a time collecting anything but dust.. | |
|
Home
login 
