Grandparents’ right to access
Dear Mrs Macaulay, My son died tragically two years ago, and left behind a young child. The mother had no problem with us seeing our grandbaby, but now she says she wants to move to another parish and start fresh, and doesn’t intend to send the child to visit us. She said she wants to start a new life with someone else, and it’s weird keeping the connection with her ex’s family. Does Jamaica have grandparents’ rights? Could we take her to court and get legal rights to see the baby?
Please accept my condolences for the tragic loss of your son. I am sure it has been very comforting for you and your husband to have had access with your grandchild. The mother can, of course, move on with her life by developing another relationship and also moving to another parish, but she is wrong in saying that she does not intend for the child to continue visiting you. This is completely muddled thinking on her part, as the relationship is a blood relationship, and it is the child’s right to have and keep such relationships going.
In addition, her new relationship cannot effect an erasure of the child’s familial relationship with you. Our courts of law have recognised that such relationships are healthy and beneficial for children to have.
You as a grandparent have the right to apply to the Family Court for an order for the mother to send the child to visit you as, and when, the order specifies. Family Courts and the Supreme Court of Jamaica have made innumerable access orders for grandchildren to visit and spend time with their grandparents over the years. The applications are made pursuant to the Children (Guardianship and Custody) Act. Other laws have recognised obligations of grandparents towards their grandchildren and the grandchildren’s obligations to their grandparents.
I therefore strongly advise you to go to the Family Court in your parish and have the clerk assist you to file an application for you and your husband to have specific fixed access to your grandchild, whereever the mother decides to take the child to live.
The relationship with you is a secure, safe and loving one for her child. But the possible future relationship of her child with her new partner does not automatically fall within the same category of attributes. We all know that sometimes such relationships can be very toxic, cruel and unhappy for a child.
Please take with you a certified copy of your deceased son’s birth and death certificates and the birth certificate of your grandchild.
Please do not delay; act as expeditiously as possible so that your grandchild is not caused any unnecessary upset. The proceedings in the Family Court and assistance by the clerk are free of charge. You can ask for your access to be every other weekend, half of all school holidays, and alternate Easter, Christmas and birthdays shared between you and the mother. Remember, court orders must be obeyed or the person who disobeys them can suffer serious consequences for their contempt of court.
You must go and get these orders in order to continue to have visits with your grandchild, and you must use this means to ensure that you maintain the familial relationship and prevent the mother’s arbitrary planned action which would be detrimental to the child’s development and welfare. You will succeed because the only ground which can defeat your application is that you and your husband are completely undesirable and/or your home and environment is unsafe for the child, which can clearly not be upheld by anyone in the circumstances you have related.
I wish the very best for you and your grandchild.
Margarette May Macaulay is an attorney-at-law, Supreme Court mediator, notary public, and women’s and children’s rights advocate. Send questions via e-mail to allwoman@jamaicaobserver.com; or write to All Woman, 40-42 1/2 Beechwood Avenue, Kingston 5. All responses are published. Mrs Macaulay cannot provide private, personal responses.
