Are Permanent Guardians Required To Allow Parental Visitation In Indiana

**Bella13** · 01-14-2008, 11:41 AM

My husband and I have permanent guardianship of a little girl in Indiana. Her maternal grandmother had guardianship previously, but she passed away last March 2007, the same month we got guardianship at the wishes of the grandmother(Child's lived with us since January 2007). We met her and the girl November of 2006. Bio-dad hasn't been heard from in 3 years. Bio-mom never came to our home before the guardianship hearing and didn't even show up at the court date. Bio-mom is now becoming our concern.

In the year that the girl has been with us, the bio-mom has had almost no contact. She never called or came over for 10 months. Now she is coming around. She began by calling about once per week. In the last month and a half she's been over to see the child in our home four times for an hour at a time. She calls on Friday and requests to see the child on the following Sunday. Her motives are unclear and we don't speak. She, her husband, and their two kids play with the child in her room for the hour and they leave. The bio-mom and her husband had used drugs in front of the child previous to the guardianship, and have never offered or paid any support for the child. The child had been physically and sexually abused by her bio-father when she was young, and neglected by her bio-mother, these are the reasons the grandmother was given guardianship.

Are we required to allow her to see the child? If we have other plans do we have to make the child available? Might her seeing the child once a week affect the possiblitiy of us adopting this child sometime in the future? I want to do what's best for this child. I'm just not sure what the best legal and moral thing is right now. I need some advice.

**aaron** · 01-17-2008, 06:29 AM

Typically, a guardianship order will provide for visitation. What does the order from your case provide?

**Bella13** · 01-17-2008, 11:47 AM

There is absolutely no mention of visitation in our order.

It states that the grandmother had been awarded custody of the child and that she and the birth mother (through conversations) have consented to us taking permanent guardianship. It states that neither birth parents showed for the hearing, and that "after notice and hearing the court will consider entering an order requiring the Biological Mother and Biological Father to pay child support to the Co-Petitioners."

The part after it says, "IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that" it just states that my husband and I are granted permanent co-guardianship over the person and property of the child. It also states that a copy of the order be placed in the court's file in the child custody case when the grandmother got custody and in the divorce records of the bio-parents.