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Adoptive Grandparents Sue for Custody!


ElizabethAnn

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How far would you go to protect your adopted grandchildren, if your own son or daughter seemed to be neglecting their responsibilities?

In one of those real-life news stories that sounds more like a made-for-TV movie, the maternal grandparents of Jaliek Rainwater, a twelve-year-old who been missing since last November, went to court today seeking guardianship of their adopted grandson.

The grandparents reportedly harbor concerns that their daughter's husband is somehow responsible for the disappearance of the child, who was adopted from the foster care system when he was seven.

The adoptive father, who was named a "person of interest," purportedly has a history of abusive conduct when angry, and has been less than cooperative with law enforcement authorities and those searching for his missing son, at times.

Read more, here, and join us in Praying for Jaliek's Safe Return!

Visit the website Jaliek's grandparents and foster families put together, and read their perspective on what's happened, HERE.

And to see pictures of this precious child, click here.

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How awful! How in the world did this man with a history of abuse become an adoptive parent? We have only started the process and see how much paperwork and checks that need to be done on our history and records. I definitely understand why all these check are done, but how did this man pass all the tests?

Tracey

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How awful! How in the world did this man with a history of abuse become an adoptive parent? We have only started the process and see how much paperwork and checks that need to be done on our history and records. I definitely understand why all these check are done, but how did this man pass all the tests?

Tracey

MONEY

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I'm guessing that (given how low the states sometimes set the bar in their desperate quest to find homes for the thousands of kids in American foster care) these folks probably (like most) said whatever they needed to, in order to pass the homestudy process and kept their noses clean; they probably wouldn't even have hit the American radar screen by now, had it not been for this poor child's 'disappearance.'

Let's be honest: asking people to submit a fileload of personally-obtained documentation, pass a couple of criminal checks and sit through a few interviews with a social worker (or even a series of MAP classes) is absolutely no guarantee of a good home. It's downright scary how often American children are entrusted to adopters who truly aren't well-suited to parenting, no matter how much anyone wants to believe otherwise.

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When Keith and I took our foster parenting classes I must say I was surprised at some of the people in the class. And everybody in the class PASSED! :o

Edited by Jada
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I think these grandparents are doing what any grandparents would do. It's so sad though...do they have no idea at all what happened to this child?

Natalie

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How very sad. With the boy missing so long, chances of finding him keep getting slimmer and slimmer. After reading some of the articles, they suspect foul play. The last article said the parents are no longer helping in the search of the child. I suspect there is more information on the father that is not given in the articles of his past abuse.

Tracey

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  • 1 month later...

In the latest strange twist in the saga of the still-missing adopted child named Jaliek Rainwalker, his grandmother (by adoption) is being questioned about a break-in at the adoptive parents' former house, since they've moved to Vermont: read the story here. One can only assume she was seeking some sort of clues on her own; God bless her for being so concerned about her grandson, when it seems he's been all-but-forgotten in the national press, lately.

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What a heartbreaking story! I wonder if we'll ever know what happened to him. Prayers he can return to the family members that love him.

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As for myself being a grandparent to an adopted child I would do whatever it took to protect that child. This child first of all is a gift that was bestowed upon us from God to love and protect at all cost so I would do whatever it took to keep this child safe and free from harm. I have not read the story of this missing child but can only hope that he is found soon. Let me also say that it wouldn't matter if this child was adopted or not wouldn't we all want to protect an innocent child from this sometimes very cruel world?

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  • 1 year later...

A fascinating* legal battle testing adoptive grandparents rights recently reached the Court of Appeals in Indiana: Adoptive Grandparents vs. Adoptive Grandmother.

Here's the case in a nutshell: a young woman in a correctional facility delivered a baby bpy, whom she placed in the guardianship of a friend. Six months later, the birthfather's adoptive parents sued for custody of the child, and the courts ordered the child to be in the physical custody of the paternal grandparents with regular visitation granted to the guardian until the final outcome could be decided. Within the next two years, the guardian formally adopted the birthmother, also becoming a legal grandparent to the child in question. The paternal grandparents, who had their adoption petition granted while the child was visiting the then-maternal grandparent, informed the maternal grandparent upon picking up the child that all visitation between the child and the birthmother and her adoptive mother would now cease, since the adoption was approved, and the birthmother and her adoptive mom filed suit to overturn the adoption.

The sad irony is that the courts ruled in favor of the paternal grandparents, who have now cost two sons-by-adoption any contact with the biological mothers who enabled this couple to adopt twice-- and who denied another grandparent-by-adoption the same privilege of grandparent-access they themselves sought to defend.

*The tragedy of it is that this legal battle has been waged over the head of the child in question for more than six years now-- his entire lifetime.

Read the judgement and share your thoughts?

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