Journal of Policy Analysis and Management

Question: Whether the childs custody in the said case will be granted to the childs father or the childs grandmother? Answer: The law in United States of America presumes that the custody of legal parents or what the legal parents decide regarding the custody of the child is in the best interest of the child. The other individual claiming custody of the child has to prove with clear evidence that the custody of legal parents is not suitable or would be detrimental to the interest of the child. Thus, in the said case, the grandmother has to convince the Court that the custody of the child granted to her would be in best interest of the child (Laura, 2012). Statement of Facts In the present case, a grandmother took informal custody of her grandchild as the childs legal parents were unable to take care of the said child because of their involvement with drugs and criminal convictions. However, the childs father later applied for the custody of his child. The grandmother however intervened the said proceeding and under the Oregon Statute ORS section 109.119 requested the Court to deny the father his childs custody and grant her the childs permanent custody. The Oregon Statute ORS section 109.119 provides about five factors which are considered by the Court in determining whether an individual who is not a legal parent but has a significant relationship with the child should be preferred granting childs custody over and above the legal parents. Thus, the issue in the said case can be resolved by reviewing how the Court will look at the said five factors in determining whether the father or the grandmother should be preferred in being granted the custody of t he child. Discussion The Oregon Statute ORS section 109.119 permits an individual who is not a legal parent of the said child but has a significant relationship with the child to apply to the Court for a petition for custody and visitation. Under the said section, the Court presumes that the custody of the legal parents or what the legal parents decide about the custody of their child is in the best interest of the child (Pimentel, 2012). The individual applying for the childs custody other than the childs legal parents has to convince the Court otherwise. Thus, any individual including but not restricted to foster parents, stepparents, grandparents or relatives by blood or marriage who have established emotional bonds or personal relationship with the child can apply for custody or visitation. In determining whether the said custody should be granted to anyone except legal parents five factors are considered (Schetky et al., 2012). The first factor is whether the individual applying for custody of child has been the primary caretaker of child in recent times. This is considered by the court to determine whether the child is comfortable around the applicant and has a personal relationship which can be equal to a parent-child relationship. In the present case, grandmother of the child was looking after the child until the father applied for childs custody. The second factor is whether denial of the relief would create any circumstantial detriment to the interest of the child (Weisz Kazdin, 2010). This factor is considered as in custody cases childs interest is the most important. Thus, in the present case as the childs parents were involved in drugs and crime, deny grandmother custody would be detrimental to the interest of the child. The third factor is whether the legal parent has fostered or granted consent to the custody of his child to the applicant. The said factor is important as the consent of parents is considered in the best interest of the child by the Court. The forth f actor is when granting relief would not interfere with the custodial relationship. In the said factor Court considers whether granting custody to the applicant would not change the childs relationship or present living condition. Thus, in the said case, as the child was already living with his grandmother, the custody to grandmother would not change the custodial relationship (DeGarmo, 2010). The last factor is whether the legal parent has intentionally denied or limited contact between the applicant and the child. In case of relations like grandparent, if the parent restrict visitation, the court will consider it as a factor against granting custody to parents. This list is not exhaustive (Ha, Cancian Meyer, 2010). Conclusion In the present case, custody should be granted to grandmother as the legal parents are involved in drugs and crime and the grandmother has been the recent primary caretaker of the child and living in an environment away from drugs and crime would be in the best interest of the child. Reference List DeGarmo, D. S. (2010). A time varying evaluation of identity theory and father involvement for full custody, shared custody, and no custody divorced fathers.Fathering,8(2), 181. Ha, Y., Cancian, M., Meyer, D. R. (2010). Unchanging child support orders in the face of unstable earnings.Journal of Policy Analysis and Management,29(4), 799-820. Laura W. Morgan. (2012).Child support guidelines: Interpretation and application. Aspen Publishers Online. Pimentel, D. (2012). Criminal Child Neglect and the'Free Range Kid': Is Overprotective Parenting the New Standard of Care?.Utah Law Review,2012(947). Schetky, D. H., Angell, R., Morrison, C. V., Sack, W. H. (2012). Parents who fail: A study of 51 cases of termination of parental rights.Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry,18(2), 366-383. Weisz, J. R., Kazdin, A. E. (Eds.). (2010).Evidence-based psychotherapies for children and adolescents. Guilford Press.