[Lynard1210]

I totally agree with Hadley that adoption is the best choice if permanence is in fact the goal. However, not all familes have permanent parenthood as the goal. That is when Legal Custody comes into play. I know of a grandmother right now who has legal custody of her grandchild because her daughter (the first mom) was in college. There was a possibility that the daughter might take over parenting. There are other situations where guardianship is the right choice depending on the family's circumstances. We chose adoption for our granddaughter because it was right for us and the permanance was the number one factor; however, adoption is not always the best answer ESPECIALLY when the child is older and has a family he/she is bonded to and wants to keep their name or some other personal reason. There is an entire juvenile court system that uses legal custody as permanent. Unless the child's circumstances change (not the bio parents), legal custody is considered permanent. Personally I wanted no part of the juvenile court system and we had a choice to go to Probate Court for adoption. Not every family has that choice. They are thousands of children already in the system when their permanence comes into question and sometimes the only way a family can get them in their home is through legal custody (adoption could obviously possibly come later if needed). Child services wants kids out of the system and once a child is with a relative and/or nonrelative by legal custody, they can close the case.

Adoption is the most permanent and safest for children's permanence, i agree, but not always realistic for the situation, especially when child services is involved. If the goal is to get the child out of the system, then legal custody is the only way unless the child has gone to permanent custody and is then available to be adopted. In a perfect world, all children would have permanence and I agree with Hadley that people should either parent or not. In the Juvenile Court system, IMO parents are given too long a time period to get their acts together. You either want your kids or you don't and it is usually evident at the beginning a case by whether the parent(s) are working their case plan. It is very sad for children to be left in limbo while parents try to get off drugs and take parenting classes. But that is what we are dealing with and it definitely needs to be changed.