Some States Get Grandparents Rights Right

Colorful map of the United States showing all states, representing grandparenting resources, family connections, and grandparent rights across the country

Troxel vs Granville Supreme Court case decision year 2000 denied good, decent, honorable grandparents of visitation of their grandchildren. This decision was based on the 5th and 14th Amendments the U.S. Constitution due process clause which is a safeguard from arbitrary denial of the life, liberty, or property by the government but the court deferred to the legislatures’ power to revise the law but did not redefine the scope of a parent’s due process right to control the non-intact parent visitation. Therefore, non-intact grandparent laws are not unconstitutional.

Empty courtroom with judge benches and American flags, representing grandparent rights cases, family law hearings, custody disputes, and legal advocacy for grandparents

Hand signing a document with a pen, representing grandparent rights, legal paperwork, family law, custody, and visitation agreements

Now, there is no reason at this 2018 short session of the Connecticut legislature that elected officials should deny us grandparents of the proposed bill HB5212 for non-intact parent families (the broken family) Grandparents Rights to Visitation ( identical to 2017 HB7244 bill) .

For the past six years here in Connecticut, there has been an average of 246,600 children per year from single-parent families (non-intact family). Proof of Connecticut statute 46b-59 that it does not grant visitation to grandparents no matter what it says is with 300 cases from 2012 to 2015 by judicial department applications that prove the statute is of no worth for grandparents seeking visitation of their grandchildren.

Just imagine these 246,600 children from non-intact families denied the right of visitation by their grandparents. South Carolina has set a precedent in 2014 with HB4348, identical to proposed Connecticut bill HB7244 of 2017 and now 2018 bill HB5212. It’s been making families healthy and happy again. Other states such as Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, NY and NJ changed their laws but ongoing emotional and psychological abuse continues in Connecticut, so does opioids, alienation, domestic violence and financial disaster. At any municipal court in Connecticut, a grandparent visitation application adviser attorney will tell you it’s a waste of time and money. Connecticut has made a mess of the family. Why don’t elected officials replace “bondage statute 46b-59” for grandparents?

— Emidio C. Cerasale