Guardianship and vaccines

[NYCVeg]

Like many people, dh and I have no "perfect" relative to serve as dd's guardian should something happen to us, but we feel pretty happy with our choice. We do not vaccinate. Dd's guardian does vaccinate her children and lives in a state that does not have philosophical exemptions.

I'm curious about what would happen if this relative did become dd's guardian. Would she have any options? A religious exemption would be out of the question, I assume, since she vaccinates her own kids. What would happen to dd with regard to school? Surely it would take a significant amount of time to "catch up" on vaccinations. I'd like to talk to dd's guardian about the possible options, but I'm not even sure what those options are.

(Another guardian is not an option at the moment. We feel pretty strongly about vaccines--but we feel more strongly about dd being raised in a secure, stable environment in which she will be loved dearly and have a good support system.)

[ammiga]

How does your guardian feel about raising your children vax-free?

We are using my sister, and she doesn't have children yet, but I imagine she will selectively vaccinate. However, she is perfectly fine to raise our children vax-free. She respects our decision and I trust that she will never give our children any vaxes for any reason.

She also lives in a state with no philosophical exemption. To get around this (we hope), in our will we left a statement of our firm religious beliefs against vaccinating. We are including a letter from us and from my sister and her husband that they plan to raise our children with our religious beliefs, regardless of what their own religious beliefs are.

[frugalmama]

I'm in the same boat - if something happens to me my DD goes to my brother and his wife who vax 100% - SIL is a nurse. She also doesn't no we don't vax either.

I really don't know what to do on it either, other than hope nothing happens to me before DD is old enough to declare herself an adult.

[NYCVeg]

Originally Posted by ammiga

How does your guardian feel about raising your children vax-free?

We are using my sister, and she doesn't have children yet, but I imagine she will selectively vaccinate. However, she is perfectly fine to raise our children vax-free. She respects our decision and I trust that she will never give our children any vaxes for any reason.

She also lives in a state with no philosophical exemption. To get around this (we hope), in our will we left a statement of our firm religious beliefs against vaccinating. We are including a letter from us and from my sister and her husband that they plan to raise our children with our religious beliefs, regardless of what their own religious beliefs are.

We're going to talk with her about it--although I'm sure she would theoretically respect our wishes, I just don't know what her options are. I asked a lawyer friend about it, and he was extremely skeptical about a school/state allowing a guardian to claim an exemption based on the deceased parents' religious beliefs. Of course, everything depends on the school and their policies.