The rights of grandparents

Earl Sandvigen loves being a grandfather. He fondly recalls taking his grandchildren on family vacations to Mammoth, on weekly trips to Disneyland and down to the seashore in his hometown of Laguna Beach.

But those trips were cut short four years ago when Sandvigen’s son and daughter-in-law severed all family ties.

Sandvigen describes having no access to his grandchildren as being as painful as mourning a family member’s death.

“There is always hope, but it’s still the same grieving,” he said. “You don’t think you can love any more than you love your children until you have grandchildren.”

After hiding their family secret from friends for a year, the Sandvigens began to cope with their feelings of shame and embarrassment. And last year, they got involved with a support group, Newport Beach-based Advocates for Grandparent Grandchild Connection.

The objective of the nonprofit organization is to educate, advocate, and create awareness of the importance of contact between children and their grandparents. Founded in 2005, the group seeks to be a voice for children who are denied the right to keep loving adults, specifically grandparents, in their lives.

In addition to monthly meetings, advocates offers free counseling over the phone and through e-mail, access to educational resources and references to legal counsel.

“There were no support groups for people in our situation,” Earl Sandvigen said. “It helps us just to talk.”

Loni Klein, an attorney involved with the advocates group, hopes to get the word out to grandparents that they have rights and it is possible for them to maintain relationships with their grandchildren after stepparent adoptions, the most common cause for lost contact.

Parents have a fundamental right to govern the care and custody of their children, according to state law. The nonprofit’s officials hope to balance that right with the well-being of the child, interests that are too often opposed in their opinion.

“Children can’t have too many people involved in their lives who love them,” Klein said.

That is why the group got involved with Assemblyman Van Tran to sponsor a bill that allows for grandparents to petition the court for visitation rights following stepparent adoption. The bill was signed into law, and it goes into effect next year.

Advocates for Grandparent Grandchild Connection meets at 3 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month in Room 6 at Oasis Senior Center, 800 Marguerite Ave., Corona del Mar. For more information, go to https://www.grandparentchildconnect.org or call (949) 640-0399.