Temporary Custody

Temporary physical custody for grandparents raising grandchildren

If you have physical custody, without a court order, you have no legal rights to make decisions for your grandchildren about health care and school enrollment. You also can’t make legal arrangements for someone else to take care of your grandkids should something happen to you.
Establishing a legal custody or guardianship arrangement will give you the most legal rights. But if you’re hesitant to get the courts involved, there are several alternatives to consider. They can be especially helpful and simple when there is a cooperative relationship between the child's parents and grandparents.

Power of attorney

If your grandchild’s parent or parents are willing, they can create a power of attorney that gives you temporary authority to make specific decisions for their child. Once power of attorney is signed over, you have whatever legal rights are specified in the document. For example, you might be given legal authority to seek medical care for your grandchild or register him or her in school.
The power of attorney does not remove a parent’s legal rights, and the parent can revoke it at any time. You will want to check what provisions there are in your state for power of attorney.

Medical and educational consent laws

Some states also have consent laws that make it possible for grandparents to make medical and school decisions for their grandchildren without going to court.

• Educational consent laws, or open enrollment law, allow grandparents or other adults who are raising a child without legal custody to enroll that child in public school.
• Medical consent laws allow a parent to authorize another adult to consent to medical, dental, and mental health care for their children and obtain access to health records.

How Do Caregivers Get Medical Consent?

The parent or legal caregiver giving the authorization may complete a medical consent form, available from many local organizations, or simply write a statement.  The form or statement must contain the following:

• identity of the caregiver
• the names and dates of birth of the children at issue
• a description of the medical treatments for which authorization is given
• a statement that there are no court orders in effect which would prohibit the authorization
• the signatures of the parent, legal guardian, or custodian, in the presence of two witnesses.  (The caregiver receiving the consent cannot be one of the witnesses signing.)

Source: SeniorLAW Center
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