-Receive continuity of care in a stable and loving home environment

-Obtain supportive services such as medical care, health insurance, counseling, access to school enrollment, and other services

This project provides the full range of legal assistance and representation to grandparents and other caregivers who are seeking a legal guardianship over children ages 0 – 5.   Case management services are also available to eligible grandparents / caregivers through this project.

Please call the Guardianship Caregiver Project

(661) 334-4663 

or

Toll Free (888) 292-4252

Legal Assistance Includes:

-Determine through initial intake if guardianship is or is not an option (Describe and explain the pros and cons of a guardianship including the entire guardianship process)

-Explain rights, duties and obligations of a guardianship over minor children

-Review client case facts and determine if client proceeds in the process as a pro per or if the project Attorney is needed to provide direct legal representation in court

-Help client complete the initial “Guardianship Questionnaire”

-Prepare the Petition, including Declarations, Fee Waivers, etc., as needed

-Facilitate service of process by mail and personal service to all relevant parties

-Accompany the grandparent / caregiver to court as a support person to help facilitate the process through the court system when the client proceeds as a pro per

-Project Attorney will provide direct representation in court for grandparent / caregiver when direct representation is most appropriate

-Prepare and serve Letters of Guardianship and Orders for Appointment of Guardianship

Case Management Services Include:

-Children are assisted with obtaining a medical home, health insurance, and mental health services and other goal oriented services, as identified.

According to the First 5 Kern Website: “Current research in brain development indicates that the emotional, physical and intellectual environment to which a child is exposed in the earliest years of life has a profound impact on how the brain is organized.

The relationships and contacts a child has with parents and caregivers significantly influences how a child will function in school and later in life.”

Reasons for Grandparents / Caregivers Stepping In?

-Parents unable to take care of children

-Incarceration

-Child Abuse

-Neglect or Abandonment

-Domestic Violence

-Unemployment

-Teen Pregnancy

-Physical and Mental Illness

-Divorce

-AIDS

-Death

Why Obtain a Guardianship?

If children are living with relatives informally, their caregivers are often unable to enroll their grandchildren in school, obtain medical care and make all the other day-to-day decisions parents take for granted.

A legal guardianship provides grandparents and other caregivers the legal authority to enroll children in school and sign for medical treatment including immunizations and vaccinations. Without such consent, for example, most doctors and hospitals, fearing liability suits, are unwilling to proceed with routine and necessary medical care.

-Relative care provides powerful bonds for children.

-Relative care provides a loving, familiar and stable setting for a child-at-risk.

-Relatives are more likely to keep siblings together.

-Relatives know the history of the child, they know the child intimately.

-Children know the relative.