Legal Question in Family Law in Virginia

My husband and I have legal guardianship over our adult daughter due to her mental illness and learning disabilities. She has given birth to two babies by different men. We are raising her first child. She has a six month old second baby by a drug dealer who is now serving several years in prison. We have not been able to convince her to put the baby up for adoption. She is somewhat competent as a mother to the baby, there isn't any abuse or neglect, but she requires much help from us, as she cannot hold a job and is on disability and doesn't drive. We fear the future is grim as he gets older and parenting becomes more difficult, and we cannot raise another of her children. In addition, she continues to make poor decisions, such as taking on a new boyfriend who eventually got violent with her and has charges pending because he broke her arm. This is only a snapshot of her situation, but at first glance, the questions we have is does our having legal guardianship give us the power to take the baby and get him adopted without her consent?


Asked on 3/28/14, 4:58 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Michael Hendrickson Law Office Michael E. Hendrickson

No, I don't believe your guardianship status over your adult daughter would necessarily confer upon you the right to take her child and have it adopted without her consent (which would also necessarily involve the termination of her parental rights over this child).

You may wish to arrange for a consultation with an attorney who handles adoption matters in the Commonwealth to discuss this situation, but my sense is that you would likely need to obtain full custody of this second grandchild first before proceeding to have this child adopted out to someone unrelated to your family (and even then without your daughter's consent it may not be possible).

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Answered on 3/29/14, 1:10 pm


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