LRC to back grandparents on guardianship

THE Law Reform Commission is expected to recommend that grandparents be allowed to apply for guardianship of their grandchildren later this year.

Under current laws grandparents have very limited rights to access and custody of their grandchildren, and must “apply for leave to apply” for access.

Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness, president of the Law Reform Commission, said there simply was no way of telling how many grandparents are in a legal limbo regarding rights over their grandchildren.

“Grandparents don’t generally take legal action, so we just don’t know,” said Ms McGuinness. “And the way the system is set up they are discouraged, it is very off-putting for them.”

In its consultation paper, the Law Reform Commission recognises situations where grandparents and relatives are caring for a child because the parent is unable or unwilling to do so, for example as a result of drug addiction or because he or she has a mental disorder. In these circumstances the relative is a de facto parent.

But under the law as it stands, where a grandparent or relative is exercising all the responsibilities of raising a child, he or she is not entitled to any of the rights associated with guardianship, or what the commission prefers to call “parental responsibility”, if the child’s parents are still alive. This can lead to great difficulties such as consent to medical treatment, or application for a passport to take a child on a holiday abroad.

In other cases, a grandparent can raise a child because the parents are not around, only for that child to be taken away if either one of the parents decides they want to play a role.

Ms McGuinness maintains that if a grandparent is in situation of full-time care of a child, it would be wise to formalise the situation as they have no automatic rights.

British research recently found that 67% of grandparents were prevented from having contact with their grandchildren following family breakdown.

Given the increasing rate of family breakdown here, it is feared grandparents may increasingly be left out of their grandchildren’s lives.

Treoir, the national support group for unmarried parents, regularly receives phone calls from grandparents who have lost contact and are trying to find out what their rights are.

Treoir has produced a publication, Being there for Them, specifically for the grandparents of unmarried parents, giving advice and guidance and outlining what a grandparent can do to maintain relationships.

Cork-based Labour TD Kathleen Lynch, who has produced a white paper around guardianship issues, said grandparents who go to the courts to seek access fear speaking out in case they jeopardise their case.