want to know if grandparents have rights?

What is the name of your state? ohio im writing about my neice. she just had a baby and put it through an adoption, but it hasnt gone through with adoption yet. and her mother and father has custody of her first child cause she wasn"t able to take care of the first one. does her mother and father have the right to get the baby she just had and get custody of it? my neice is 18 now,but she didnt want the baby to stay in the family, what can her mother and father do to get the baby back in the family, the baby is with the people who wants to adopt it , what can the grandparents do to get there rights to get the baby? thank you, karen

[sroutlaw]

In brief, no, they have no rights. Neither before or after adoption - your niece is above legal age and the child's life is as much her "choice' now as it was when it was in her womb.

Best bet for this family is serious counselling - and letting the baby go to a two parent, loving family.

Southlaw, before you comment on something make sure you know the facts.

Poster, yes, grandparents do have visitation rights depending on in which state they live. The federal courts have also voiced their opinion on the matter and as soon as I get back online I'll pull up the specific statutes pertaining to your state and the federal case law.

[sroutlaw]

Hey Hex-
Check Troxel v Granville, Supreme Court I believe 2000. Grandparents rights are on the way dooooooowwwwwnnnnn.
And in the case of adoption by strangers, the grandparents are legally strangers after the adoption.

Be careful - I know gp rights and visitation very very well unfortunately.

[tigger22472]

Originally posted by sroutlaw
Hey Hex-
Check Troxel v Granville, Supreme Court I believe 2000. Grandparents rights are on the way dooooooowwwwwnnnnn.
And in the case of adoption by strangers, the grandparents are legally strangers after the adoption.

Be careful - I know gp rights and visitation very very well unfortunately.

Check again because times are changing and they are changing those laws.. I was informed and it was confirmed.

[sroutlaw]

[url]http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/membersonly/123grandparents.pdf[/url]

Ohio law, conceding that the TvG case of Supreme Court renders much of its law vulnerable as well as stating that in re: adoption on minor children, grams and gramps are out of luck. Sorry poster, I pretty much knew this was the case.

[sroutlaw]

LOL informed by......someone who can override the SUpreme Court as well as Ohio law concerning the adoption of minor children? Think hard before you reply - the law is clear, mom and dad decide if they want child adopted, period. The adoption is totally up to them - not only when it takes place but who the baby is given to. After the adoption, the bio family is legally akin to strangers to the child. Please be informed by actual facts.

[sroutlaw]

[url]http://www.parentsrights.org/states/oh/oh33100.htm[/url]
making it clear gps have no right whatever to intervene in adoption

O.K. let's look at the case you cited:

"The Supreme Court of Ohio has expressly rejected appellants' argument and held that grandparents do not have the right to intervene, nor do they have a right to visitation with their grandchildren when the minors have been adopted by a third party. In In re Adoption of Ridenour (1991), 61 Ohio St.3d 319, the court stated that the clear legislative intent in enacting R.C. 3107.15, Ohio's adoption statute, was to terminate all legal relationships between the adopted person and his or her former relatives. Id. at 325. In effect, the child is given a new identity. Id. at 327. The court then ruled that biological grandparents should not have been allowed to intervene by the probate court in the adoption proceedings."

According to your citation this case holds that the grandparents have no rights. However, the case was one of the child already being adopted, which is not the case in this post.

Be careful which cases you cite. As for the posters situation, until the child is adopted, they still have rights under Ohio statute 3107. (et. seq).

[sroutlaw]

reread the original post. The child is up for adoption and the adoptive parents have custody, just waiting for the finalization. This means that the grandparents would be interfering in the adoption by strangers, which they have no legal right to do.

So based on your logic, possession is all that matters? PEASE!

Until a court order legalizing the adoption is signed by a judge, the grandparents have all the rights they would have were the child in the custody of the state.

You're making some very dangerous assumptions which have no basis in law.

[sroutlaw]

The adoptive parents have the custody of the child; any judge who intervened at this point would be making a pointless ruling as the gps have no right to interfere in the actual adoption (think about this - can they stop a woman from aborting "their" grandchild? NOPE. Same basic principle here - her child, her decision.). A judge could theoretically give the gps VISITATION rights - between now and the finalization (assuming you could even get before a judge in the usual six month period between the birth and adoption being final) but those visitation rights would be ended at the finalization of adoption because then the gps are strangers....so my feeling is a logical judge or person would rely on mom and dad's decision and tell gps, sorry this is a matter for the adoption courts. And in the adoption, gps have no right to intervene.

Logic follows A to B to C not A to Z back to B

[sroutlaw]

The person who COULD stop all of this is the birth father, if he hasn't been terminated yet. For all we know, birth mom is terminated in terms of rights - which makes the gps standing even LESS to the court

Poster, go speak with a family attorney in your area.

SroutLaw: You're problem on this forum, as you just admitted, is that you are using logic instead of law. Logic, although a part of the law, has no more relevance to the practice of law as do emotions.

This case is one of fact.

Fact 1. The grandparents have certain rights outlined in Ohio Statute.

Fact 2. The grandchild is in the process of "being" adopted.

Fact 3. The adoption has not yet been finalized.

Fact 4. The grandparents have the same rights they would have up to the final adoption order.

No logic, no emotion, just facts.

[sroutlaw]

Fact five: The gp rights in Ohio are VERY specifically limited to best interest of child......and the Ohio case law proves over and over that they don't assume visitation is in best interest. Either way, this post is not asking for visits, but for custody change -
MEANING

Fact six: Gps want to intervene in adoption - NOT legal in Ohio.

Emotion is not a part of it for me either LOL I am not the parent or gp nor have I ever been in any of these types of cases. But I do know law quite well thanks.