Guardianship vs adoption

Depends on several things, but in general, guardianship is not as permanant a resolution as adoption. Guardianship CAN be overturned/reversed, while once an adoption is final, it is almost always final. There is always an exception to prove the rule, but, that's the rule. :)

I also think there are different types of guardianship-- I'm unsure of the names, but one is more difficult to overturn and the other is easier to challenge. Maybe it's guardianship versus permanent custody? But at least you can ask these questions... Good Luck!

as far as if they would have a say they might but i doubt it. I am a guardian and am fighting for the right to adopt soon. I wouldnt recommend this route because you could lose your subsidy and also your CW that makes YOU the bad guy and also the parents have the right to try and terminate the guardianship and the burden of proof is way less. D's mom is 20 mths in and they havent even really yelled at her yet. this past monday she didn't show up to a hearing and the judge was finally angry told me to file for termination. I wouldn't do guardianship again for a million bucks unless it was a relatives kid who just wanted to live with me

If you want to adopt I recommend that you refuse guardianship. The main reason is that you will have to file for the termination of parental rights yourself and take on the lawyer and court fees associated with it. The state will not be involved at all. YOU will have to prove why it's necessary without any evidence from the CPS file...it's confidential. That will make it very difficult. Also, if your child qualifies for a subsidy post adoption under CPS conservatorship, she will not be eligible for it if you take over that conservatorship before adoption. This may or may not concern you, but it's something to consider for long term health costs or education costs. It sounds like the state is trying to pass on the expense of the TPR trial to your family so save the state some money. Don't let them get away with that! They removed to child for a reason and they need to see it through.

alex9171--if I refuse guardianship could they place K with someone else or will this push them to go for TPR? Ashley-n-D--why did CW go for guardianship over TPR in the first place with your case?

They may try to insinuate that they would remove the child, but odds are that the other family is also interested in adoption and would not take guardianship either. Hire an attorney and file to intervene in her case...now. It's either called intervenor status or de facto parent status, depending on your state. When this happened to us, I talked with the case worker, her supervisor, the CASA, and the children's GAL. CPS was very understanding of our point of view and the CASA and GAL were 100% in agreement with me after I laid out our concerns. The mom talked with other family members (we are a kinship placement) to see if anyone would accept conservatorship so we hired an attorney to block any moves in that direction. Just the action of being represented stopped that...we never had to go there, thank goodness. If you feel that CPS may try to move her, then just pursue finding an attorney and get a voice in what happens to K.

I'm curious as to why a CW would propose a guardianship as opposed to working towards an adoption or RU? A guardianship, to me, puts the child(ren) in limbo.

they didn't they were about to remove D but hadn't yet opened a case she was supposed to have adquate housing in two weeks or they were removing him and they told her that. We did the guardianship to keep them out of it. At the time i was trying to help D's mom; 20 months five boyfriends and a drug charge later im no longer concerned with her getting it together or her feelings and im filing for termination myself

From what I understand, it allows CPS to close the case and it's a LOT less expensive than going to trial for TPR. This leaves the bio parents' their parental rights, limited by the guardian, and the child is out of foster care. Dealing with the parents becomes the guardian's responsibility. I can see how this may be the best move for an older child who did not want to be adopted, but could not live with the parents. Our children are very young, and we felt they deserved to grow up with parents/parent and I did not want the spector of lawsuits by the mom to regain custody, arguments about what was best for the kids, attempts to limit our authority and ability to protect them, etc. I knew that there would be problems and wasn't interested in living the rest of my life like that.

fosterauntmom--bio has completed her case plan and will be able to prove she has maintained regular contact with K. They are not sure if she will be able to show a beneficial relationship (or something like that). Bio has a loooong history of drug and alcohol abuse (yet has remained sober for 2 years now) and some history of domestic violence with bio-dad. CW does not believe bio can keep K safe yet???? I don't get it--if she can't do it now, when will she be able? K enjoys visits with bio and calls her mommy--she also enjoys being at our home and is very affectionate with us. I thought after a certain amount of time CW had to file for TPR (to avoid languishing in foster care). Isn't guardianship practically the same thing?

Early on, our child's GAL came and proposed a guardianship to us. The goal had been changed to adoption anyways-when we shared with the CW what the GAL had proposed, she about hit the roof. Anyways, I can see where a guardianship makes sense for some children but for our situation it did not. Did you ask the CW what happens if you say no to the guardianship?