Georgia (click here to read article) is trying to find a way to ease the foster care burden and to preserve family ties. The senate votes to pass a law to make it easier for the grandparents to take custody of the grandchildren instead of being placed in foster care. This would be without having to get court approval and the oversight of Child Welfare. The grandparents would get a subsidy from the Department of Human Services but without them being involved. Which I feel is a good goal but with someone outside the family needs to ensure the best interest of the children are being met.

My experience with a number of foster children’s grandparents is that, when they are placed with them before long the parent show up wanting the children back and their parents allow them to return. So, who will be checking to see if the children are still even living with the grandparents a few months later. Is this the best way to ensure that the children will not be placed back to an abusive situation? A lot of grandparents that I have dealt with in foster care have just as many issues as the parents of the grandchildren. So, how do we know that they are different than their own children that are abusing and neglecting their grandchildren?

If the grandparents really have the best interest of their grandchildren at heart then taking a few classes, doing some paperwork is not that big of a deal. They do not have to do half the requirements that foster parents do now. Is these really protecting a child, or just easing the burden of the system? Another concern that some have in Georgia is if this is another government based subsidy program that could be costly.