Grandmother struggles to adopt two granddaughters | Buffalo ...

The grandmother of two young girls continues on in her three year endeavor to gain custody of two of her biological grandchildren.

The children who are now 2 and ? and 21 months old have been living with foster parents who have raised the girls since birth. Their parents lost custody because of ongoing struggles with drug addiction that led to both children being born with cocaine in their systems.

The older daughter was put in foster care right after she was born and her younger sister was placed in the same home. The foster parents do not want to give up the girls and filed for adoption. They received a favorable ruling last fall.

This is a very complex child custody case, in which laws from two different states have affected the outcome for the children. The state where the girls' were born did not conduct a family search on their father's side before placing them with the foster family, which would have resulted in finding two paternal uncles living close by.

Also there has been very little communication between the state where the children are living and the grandmother's home state which has only made matters more frustrating, and which led to the formal adoption by the foster parents.

The grandmother has appealed the adoption decision and continues to hope that she can be united with the children.

What do you think? Is the short-term difficulty worth it for these children to grow up in their own culture and with their own biological extended family? Or is it in their best interest to remain in the care of the only loving family they have known since birth?

Source: Star Tribune, "Rosenblum; Loving families pitted against each other in adoption case" Gail Rosenblum, June 23, 2012

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