What Rights Will I Gain if I Take Guardianship of My Niece

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: Illinois

In september 2016 I unexpectedly brought my newborn niece home from the hospital because she was being removed from her parents by dcfs due to a prior case against the birth mom. A agency took over the case and we were given a case worker. I have since then become a licensed foster parent. We have already had the adjudication hearing and the disposition hearing and dad was found to be unfit due to some current legal issues and some bad past issues along with being involved in drugs and not having a place to live. Mom was found unable through her prior case and it carried over into this one. Both parents were given orders from the judge on what they have to do to get their daughter back. Neither of them have done anything the judge has ordered so far and they have even gotten their supervised visitation through the agency restricted due to not showing up to their scheduled weekly visits. They have not seen their daughter since november and I just got a call from the caseworker and both parents are wanting to sign over guardianship to me and my husband. They are only wanting to take this step because they know if they do this then dcfs will be out of the picture and they can ask me to see her. I have until the 23rd of this month, March, to decide if this is a step we are willing to take. we have plenty of concerns due to the way the parents have treated this case so far and we are afraid of being ran over by the parents cause we are family and guardianship does not terminate rights of the bio parents. I think our main concern is that if/when parents are ready to parent even if its years down the road will they have to complete the orders that have already been put into place by the judge now to prove fitness or will this open a whole new case for them and will they get all new orders when they petition the court for custody later down the road? How long do we have to go through all this before my husband and I are able to adopt? Thanks for any and all info I can get from anyone cause I have never been through anything like this..

I'm not a lawyer but I don't think you get any more rights as a guardian than you have as a foster parent.

No offense, but if you are "afraid of being ran over by the parents cause we are family" then laws aren't going to help you but growing a spine will.

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I think our main concern is that if/when parents are ready to parent even if its years down the road will they have to complete the orders that have already been put into place by the judge now to prove fitness or will this open a whole new case for them and will they get all new orders when they petition the court for custody later down the road?

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My guess is that they will have to prove fitness and you'll have an opportunity to object whether it's a new case or an old case. One way or the other, a court will look very closely at the two parents before letting them have the child back.

One thing you can be sure of is that they are likely to get visitation at some point even if it's limited and supervised. You aren't going to be able to prevent that.

Thank you for your reply. Please don't think I'm against the parents in any way at all. I don't want to restrict visits. And I'd never prevent that. I just meant that I dont want them to think that just because we are family that they will be able to just come over when ever they want.

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Quoting Jewel69

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Thank you for your reply. Please don't think I'm against the parents in any way at all. I don't want to restrict visits. And I'd never prevent that. I just meant that I dont want them to think that just because we are family that they will be able to just come over when ever they want.

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That's up to you to set firm guidelines on visitation and not let them run you over. If you don't take guardianship of the child then she is just going to end up in the system - and who knows where she will end up. She could end up with people who abuse her or neglect her. If you have taken care of her this long I would continue to and take guardianship and then you tell the parents to do what the court told them if they want to see her and be in her life. You have to put your foot down and not let them "run over" you.

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Quoting Jewel69

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I dont want them to think that just because we are family that they will be able to just come over when ever they want.

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Of course, they WILL think that.

It'll be up to you to turn them away at the door if you have to.