Standby Guardianship

Every State permits transfer of guardianship authority over a child from a parent to another adult when the child has no other parent available to assume responsibility for care and custody of the child. A traditional guardianship provides for the care of a child in the event of the parent’s death or permanent disability and is generally regarded as a permanent transfer of custody and authority from the parent to the guardian.

One recent approach to transferring custody is facilitated through standby guardianship laws. Many States developed these laws specifically to address the needs of parents living with HIV/AIDS, other disabling conditions, or terminal illnesses who want to plan a legally secure future for their children. Approximately 26 States and the District of Columbia have made statutory provisions for standby guardianships.

Every State permits transfer of guardianship authority over a child from a parent to another adult when the child has no other parent available to assume responsibility for care and custody of the child. A traditional guardianship provides for the care of a child in the event of the parent’s death or permanent disability and is generally regarded as a permanent transfer of custody and authority from the parent to the guardian.

One recent approach to transferring custody is facilitated through standby guardianship laws. Many States developed these laws specifically to address the needs of parents living with HIV/AIDS, other disabling conditions, or terminal illnesses who want to plan a legally secure future for their children. Approximately 26 States and the District of Columbia have made statutory provisions for standby guardianships.

Raising Your Grandchildren, January 2010

Kinship Legal Guardianship Pro Se Manual

Is the child of a relative or close friend living in your home? Has the child been living with you for more than the last 12 months? Is this arrangement likely to continue? Do the parents have serious problems that prevent them from caring for their child? Are you willing to raise the child to adulthood? If you answered “yes” to these questions, then you may want to become the child’s kinship legal guardian. The Kinship Legal Guardianship law, which went into effect in January 2002, allows you — the caregiver — to become the child’s legal guardian. That means you act, in almost every way, like the child’s parent.

In Loving Arms

Most babies, children and youth have traumatic
experiences before going to live with their
grandparents, aunts, uncles or other relatives in
grandfamilies.  More than half of children involved
with the child welfare system have experienced at
least four adverse childhood experiences (ACEs),
leaving them 12 times more likely to have negative
health outcomes than the general child population.

As the number of children in foster care increases,
due in part to the nation’s opioid crisis, the child
welfare system is increasingly relying on grandparents
and other relatives to raise the children.  Yet grandparents
and other relatives are less likely than
non-related foster parents to receive supports
and services, including those provided by
professionals trained in helping children who
have experienced trauma.

Guide To Kinship Legal Guardianship Support Services

Publication of New Jersey Department of Children and Families
Office of Adoption Operations Kinship Legal Guardianship Subsidy Program

The GrandKin Guide

Every year, more and more children in foster care find permanent homes with relatives when they cannot return to live with their parents. Most children will find permanent homes through relative adoption, which continued to increase throughout the decade. In 2000, 21 percent of the children adopted from foster care were adopted by relatives. By 2007, relative adoptions from foster care accounted for 28 percent of the children exiting foster care.

GrandFacts National Fact Sheets for Grandparents and Other Relatives Raising Children

AARP, The Brookdale Foundation Group, Casey Family Programs, Child Welfare League of America, Children’s Defense Fund, and Generations United have partnered to produce state and national GrandFacts fact sheets for grandparents and other relatives raising children. The state fact sheets include state-specific data and programs as well as information about foster care, public benefits, educational assistance and state laws. Visit www.grandfactsheets.org to find this and all GrandFacts state fact sheets.

GrandFacts A State Fact Sheets for Grandparent and Other Relatives Raising Children

The data presented in these graphics is from the United States Census Bureau, the Annie E. Casey Foundation Kids Count Data Center and the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS).

For more information on kinship care and caregivers, and for detailed instructions on accessing and interpreting this data, please visit: www.gu.org/resources/accessing-and-interpreting-grandfamilies-data/