child custody

[rgilbo]

GA
My wife and I have had legal guardianship over two children for the last 3 years.
Their mother (who is bi-polar) dropped them off at a day care and instructed the workers to call defax as she no longer wanted to be a mother. We took them in and have cared for them ever since. She has since remarried and has another child. We have allowed her lately to call them on Sunday evenings to say hi and let them know she is ok and they are still thought about by her. We have received a letter from an attorney stating that we must now give her regular visitation since she is now on Meds. Do we have any recourse?
She lives in another state and we live in Georgia. We do not want the kids to go out of state with her as we don’t have a clue what might happen.

 

[Just Blue]

GA
My wife and I have had legal guardianship over two children for the last 3 years.
Their mother (who is bi-polar) dropped them off at a day care and instructed the workers to call defax as she no longer wanted to be a mother. We took them in and have cared for them ever since. She has since remarried and has another child. We have allowed her lately to call them on Sunday evenings to say hi and let them know she is ok and they are still thought about by her. We have received a letter from an attorney stating that we must now give her regular visitation since she is now on Meds. Do we have any recourse?
She lives in another state and we live in Georgia. We do not want the kids to go out of state with her as we don’t have a clue what might happen.

Who awarded you custody?

 

[rgilbo]

the mother gave them up to the state we have legal guardianship only.

 

[Proserpina]

the mother gave them up to the state we have legal guardianship only.

So who has custody? The State?

You are not Dad, correct? And if that's the case where is Dad?

 

[rgilbo]

I guess i am not sure. the mom lived in Arizona when she did all of this and now lives in Fla. the dad is a dead beat he left the mom years ago. he is not even on the birth certs

 

[Proserpina]

I guess i am not sure. the mom lived in Arizona when she did all of this and now lives in Fla. the dad is a dead beat he left the mom years ago. he is not even on the birth certs

THAT might be a huge problem for you.

 

[rgilbo]

Please explain

 

[dannyt]

mom has rights you dont

GA. We have received a letter from an attorney stating that we must now give her regular visitation since she is now on Meds Do we have any recourse?

no you dont. these are not your children.

 

[rgilbo]

you see, this was never about us vs. her. Our only concern is for the kids. they have gone through a lot and cried nightly for almost a year wondering what happened. I just dont want them to end up back with her and then she gets tired of them again and drops them off somewhere. I am not worried about what we want, I am worried about the two little ones.
thanks

 

[LdiJ]

you see, this was never about us vs. her. Our only concern is for the kids. they have gone through a lot and cried nightly for almost a year wondering what happened. I just dont want them to end up back with her and then she gets tired of them again and drops them off somewhere. I am not worried about what we want, I am worried about the two little ones.
thanks

What is your relationship to the children? How did you end up being the people with legal guardianship?

Random strangers cannot get custody of children and you talk as if you are random strangers.

I will have more to advise after you answer those questions.

 

[Zigner]

I am getting the impression that these are foster-parents (or something similar). If so, there must be a case-worker with the State that they can talk to.

 

[rgilbo]

our nephew is the dad he was married to this woman, they had the kids, he no longer wanted to be married and left.
She dropped them off at a day care. My Nephews mother took them in but didnt want them. My wife and i said we would love to have them. that is how we got the papers for guardianship. Now the mom remarried and lives in Fla.

 

[LdiJ]

our nephew is the dad he was married to this woman, they had the kids, he no longer wanted to be married and left.
She dropped them off at a day care. My Nephews mother took them in but didnt want them. My wife and i said we would love to have them. that is how we got the papers for guardianship. Now the mom remarried and lives in Fla.

Ok then...mom is a parent with constitutional rights and if you cannot prove that mom is unfit (by a legal standpoint, not your own opinion) then she WILL get at least visitation with her children. She may have to visit in your community for a while to re-establish her relationship with the children, but she will eventually get visitation in her home state.

She may even eventually get custody again.

The sooner you accept that, and work with mom to help re-establish her relationship with the children, the easier it will be on the children and the less likely that you will end up in a contentious court battle that you WILL lose as far as visitation is concerned.

 

[Proserpina]

It would still help if we knew exactly WHO has custody here....

Seriously. It may make a HUGE difference.