Legal guardianship but living with a wrongly accused sex offender?
My fiance and are are going up to FIA ( Michigan) to get legal guardianship or custody of a little girl. Her grandparents are backing us up and meeting us up there ( they are ill and dont have the ability to keep her there). We are looking for our own apartment but right now we live with my fiances parents. his dad was wrongly accused 15 years ago and is on the sex offender registry for 10 more years and we live with him. the person who accused him even says it was false. Will this ruin our chances at keeping her? We love her very much and this man would never hurt a fly. She has been with us for the last 3 weeks because her mother is unfit and practically dropped her off on our doorstep. This is in Michigan, Any advice or websites on this would be nice.
Answers:
Just a few facts to point out for you, and hopefully you don't misunderstand what I am about to say;
(1) ALL registered sex offenders are "convicted sex felons" and not just accused by someone, the courts wheather by judge or jury had made that decision. This will effect the way this person will live out the remainder of his/her life. Given that most registered sex offenders has to be in compliance of ALL court orders. Which may according to your post and what you are asking, seems that he may have been accused and found guilty of pedophilia. For the most part they are prohibited for having any contact at all or limited supervised contact with any child.
(2) This can severely obstruct what you are trying to do with the child, the courts when appyling for guardianship will send information to Child Protective Service on ALL person living in the same household with the child.
(3) It may be better that you find yourself and your fiance a place to stay because of the aforementioned if you really want to care for this child. This is a huge decision to make with a lot of responsibilities, in addition the courts do yearly checks on ALL persons under any type of guardianship which includes home and financial expenditures on any funds for the child.
(4) The courts also look into the financial history of a person who is applying for guardianship, and may find that you are not ready to care for this child. We must remind ourselves that the courts don't look at good intents, they only seek what is in the childs best interest.
(5) Given what you have mentioned and your personal situation right now, you may want to put it off until your situation betters.
(6) Finally, part of the process because you never mentioned anything about it, is that the courts will notify ALL interested parties. It can be both of her parents, an aunt or an uncle, or even an adult sibling. Each of these persons can contest this guardianship if they feel that it is in the childs best interest to be with them. I am curious, will the mother allow the guardianship to go through?
I hope all goes well for you and your fiance, and especially this child, and I again hope that you don't misinterpet my response. God Bless and best wishes!~
Your best course of action would be to find a new place to live. Whether you are taking her in as foster parents or planning to adopt her, somewhere along the line an official agency will be involved and that living situation could result in the little girl being taken from you.
I would contact a lawyer and discuss this with him (or her) first. I believe that your living situation would cause a snag in the custody case, however, I believe that if you provide enough evidence against the accusation of your fiance's father, no court would fault you your custody of the girl.
As a Social worker, I would not be doing my job if I o.k.'d a 12 year old child to live in a home with an accused sex offender. You need to get the different apt., first..and then, you could pick up the child. I would make a point, as well, of not allowing the child to be left unsupervised with this fellow, at anytime. IF you cannot afford your own place, how will you be able to care for this child..may be a question that gets asked, as well. Are you planning on supporting her with foster care money? If you adopt or take legal guardianship, you will not be entitled to any money to care for her. At least, these are the rules in CA. Every state is different..
As far as getting legal guardianship or custody, it does not sound like there will be an issue with you guys being granted that (provided the mom is agreeable, she will have to sign off on this stuff which I am sure you already know). Anyway, the fact that you live with a registered sex offended is going to affect your ability to keep the child in your current home. The fact that he is registered means that he was convicted of some crime, so you will likely run into problems with CPS or law enforcement. However, you can discuss the option with them of not allowing any unsupervised contact between the girl and your fiacee's father, which may allow you to continue living there until you at least find an apartment of your own. Getting your own place ASAP, though, is going to cut down on a lot of problems for you. It is a touchy situation, because sex offenders often have children of their own and obviously live in the same home with those children. The problem here is that this guy is not related biologically at all, so you will probably run into an issue if you try using that argument. It sounds like you guys care for the child a lot, so the best thing to do is not allow any unsupervised contact and get your own apartment as soon as possible. Good luck!
Step away from the pedophile. Move out and away from him. No one is going to approve you and your partner for legal adoption if it comes out that you're living with a pedophile (any social worker would take it to mean that if you know of his actions you condone them, as in you approve of your finance's dad taking advantage of kids). Doesn't matter if he's wrongly convicted or not (especially if he never got the conviction overturned).
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