grandparent rights?

[amys35]

Does anyone have experience dealing with foster care visitation? My 1.5yr old nephew was just placed yesterday and my mother (his grandmother) is in tears. She is feeling extremely guilty that she was unable to care for him but she works FT and her health is not great. The baby's mother has a recurrent drug problem and is now in jail for shoplifting. We are not sure when she will get out or when they would consider giving the baby back.

We want to be sure he is being take care of by a good family. My mother would also like visitation rights at least until his mother is out jail. So far, CYS is not returning our calls. We feel helpless. What rights does a grandmother have?

[MissinNYC]

In my state, yes, she has rights. Well, not necessarily rights, but the judge usually will honor grandparents' requests and award visitation. I know many kids who have gotten weekly or biweekly visits.

[miche28]

ETA: Never mind - reread OP.

Good luck to your family - I hope this is settled happily and quickly for you all.

[Polliwog]

Amy, is there any chance that you, or another family member, could take the baby? That would allow your mother to have way more contact than she would if the baby stayed in regular foster care. But...try and relax. The toddler is likely to be in a foster home with people who adore him. There are lots of foster parents who love getting a new little one to cuddle.

[amys35]

My mother now thinks she would like to take care of him FT, she is calling back the caseworker in the morning. There is no one else who can step in and care for him at this time due to various reasons. We have never dealt with the foster care system before, this is all so new to us and sadly when we hear foster care, we think the worst. If only they would let us know where he is and let us meet the family, we'd feel so much better.

[Mylie]

If your mother is truely serious about taking in your nephew..

my advice as a grandmother in this kind of a situation...Tell her to get herself a good lawyer ASAP!!! I can't tell you how invaluable it was to me to have my lawyer when I went after custody of my granddaughter..It is $$ and I lost my home and just now paid my lawyer off almost 3 years later but it was worth everything in my book.

On a side note..My cousin's grandson was placed in CPS custody at 5 days old because they found out the mother was a danger to her children.My cousins son was out of the picture at the time..They put the child in foster care and wouldn't let my cousin have him or see him..Plenty of family members tried to get him but they shot everyone down from big reasons to small reasons as silly as a bounced check 20 years ago..My cousin and her husband finally got a lawyer and was awarded custody of him last week..But the state was determined to NOT let anyone in the family have him..Don't know why..They all speculated that they had found a permanent home for him already.If I didn't live out of state I would have gone after custody of him.There was nothing they could tell me no about.I am as clean as a whistle.But even the judge was ticked about how it was handled and told the CPS worker off. But they know that if they wouldn't have gotten a lawyer they would have lost that baby...Baby boy is 3 months old now and came home to his grandma two weeks ago.

I sure hope this is resolved quickly and baby comes home..I know how scary that is.