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Last November I adopted my 11 year old step daughter. Her biological mom gave up her parental rights and never contested the process. Over the past year we have allowed our daughter to have regular contact with her maternal grandparents. They've had her for family gatherings, dinners, and holidays and we've invited them to attend all of her school and sports activities. Last week her grandmother asked to take her to the beach for a few days and my husband and I declined due to several factors that we felt did not benefit our daughter. The grandmother is now threatening to pursue this through an attorney and I was curious if this is anything we have to worry about. Do Grandparents have any rights in PA after an adoption occurs? We have tried to make this process as easy on my daughter as possible, but if we are being threatened by her grandmother we may not wish to continue nurturing the relationship. Can the courts force us to set a schedule with this woman?
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i don't know the laws in pa, but, i think they are similar throughout the country. once a parents rights are terminated, you do not have any legal responsibility to allow the gps to even see the child. there are very few states in which open adoptions with bparents are enforceable, much less with bgps.
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I got this at the following URL:
[url]http://www.divorcesource.com/info/grandparents/states/pennsylvania.shtml[/url]
Grandparent Issues: Pennsylvania
Grandparent Rights to Visitation: Visitation may be granted when at least one of the parents of the child is deceased, when the parents' marriage is dissolved or the parents have been separated for six months or more, or when the child has resided with the grandparents for twelve months or more and is subsequently removed from the home by his parents. The court must find that the visitation is in the best interest of the child and will not interfere with the parent-child relationship and must consider the amount of personal contact between the child and the grandparent prior to the application. Title 23, Section 5311 (23 Pa.C.S.A. 5311 et seq.).
When Adoption Occurs: Visitation rights terminate unless the child is adopted by either a stepparent or grandparents.
Child Custody Statutes: Best interest of child based upon which party is more likely to encourage and allow frequent and continuing contact with the other parent. 23 Pa.C.S.A. ǧ 5300 et seq.
Parents May Choose: Yes
However, the fact that you have until now been reasonable and turned down an overnight visit for practical reasons, I think would work in your favor. I would encourage you to find compromise so that it doesn't get out of hand. It is odd to me, however, that they are so quick to declare war over you turning down an invitation to the beach. What else is going on?
The other part of this is that my daughter was asked to be the guestbook attendant in her uncle's (bio-moms brother) wedding. We agreed that she could participate, but our daughter asked that one of us go with her because it is most likely that her bio-mom will be there and she does not want to be put in an awkward situation. Grandmother is highly opposed to the idea of us attending ( I get the impression they were trying to coordinate a reunion of sorts). My daughter is not comfortable with having to interact with her biomom and neither are we. We thought us attending would allow her to be part of the family activity in a safe way. Now my daughter no longer wants to be a part of the wedding. I also know that neither of my daughter's grandparents are happy with the fact that their daughter gave up her parental rights. I gather they are still in denial that I adopted their granddaughter and am now the mom.
There are alot of bio gp's that try to reunite the bio parent and child thinking it is best for them and have not idea what harm they are doing. It is best for you to look out for your child in your best interests. Also if the judge catches wind of their attempts to rekindle the bio parent and child against your wishes it will be BAD for them
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