child custody
child support
child visitation
custody and visitation
divorce
family law
grandparents rights
parenting
visitation
Should grandparents have rights to visitation in any state?
By dvmurphy
@dvmurphy (326)
United States
September 13, 2007 6:04pm CST
In March of 2007 the Iowa Senate passed a bill that gives grandparents in Iowa the right to petition the courts for visitation to their grandchildren. This is a very sore subject for many people through out the United States. Florida had grandjjparents rights and then lost them. Most states have no assistance at all for a grandparent who has been denied visitation to their grandchildren. If a grandparent seeks assistance in what they should do or can do all they usually are told is to hire a lawyer.
In Iowa I know of quite a few grandparents who are not allowed to see their grandchildren and it usually has nothing to do with abuse. It usually has to do with separation, divorce, single parenting or riffs in the family. The grandparents pay but so does the grandchild. Grandparents are only with us for a short time and then they are gone. I know from experience how it feels to lose a family member because of divorce. My youngest brother got divorced after five years of marriage and two children later. The last time any of my family saw his two children his son was four and his daughter was six months old. His ex-wife took off with the kids to another state that would not recognise Iowa visitation. His son was seventeen when we finally got to see him one day as he showed up at his grandmother's house only to find out his grandfather had died. We have never seen his daughter. This is cruel.
I started an organization called the Iowa Grandparents Rights Organization and have a webpage up where people can join. There is a national website in Michigan who I have contacted for information on setting up an organization in my state. My site is http://dragonladydvmurphy.tripod.com if anyone wants to check it out. I do charge a small fee of $12.00 a year to become a member and you don't have to live in Iowa to join. The national membership I think is around $40.00 a year.
No responses

