BILL and Angela Tyson have a six-year-old son who has a lot of contact
with Bill's parents. Angela and Bill split up, with Tom living with his
mother and Bill having voluntary access. During this time it becomes
obvious that Bill is taking Tom to his grandparents every time he has
access and they are poisoning him against his mother. Angela stops Bill
taking Tom out to his grandmother's house. How is this situation to be
resolved?
There are two courses of action, mediation through a trained mediator
and court, in both of which grandparents can be involved either directly
or on the sidelines.
This common scenario is fully explained and alternatives for resolving
it fully explored in Grandparents and the Law in Scotland by Elaine
Sutherland, senior lecturer in private law at the University of Glasgow,
which was published recently in conjunction with Age Concern Scotland.
Miss Sutherland says that she wrote this small volume as she was
''very aware that lots of grandparents weren't aware of their rights as
grandparents, about their duties, and what help the law would be with
any problems they were having''. As the book developed Miss Sutherland
said that she became aware that being a grandparent also had
responsibilities.
Miss Sutherland says: ''The grandparents book had to be written
because we don't live in an ideal world. Families experience breakdown
and sadness and in the midst of it all family members may lose
contact.''
When a grandchild is taken into temporary or permanent care Miss
Sutherland emphasises that approaches from the grandparents are welcomed
by the Reporter to the Children's Panel or the social work department.
Briefly the function of the Children's Panel is to deal with children
over the age of eight who have committed an offence or those who are at
risk from physical or sexual abuse.
Another issue dealt with by the book is the upsetting one of what
grandparents can do when they suspect neglect of their grandchildren.
''This is a difficult issue for grandparents. Obviously they don't want
to get their own children into trouble and they are probably reluctant
to report this to the police which is one response. Other ways that
grandparents can act is to bring the situation to the attention of the
Reporter to the Children's Panel or the social work departments,'' said
Elaine Sutherland, emphasising that grandparents should realise that
neglect can have serious consequences and may even result in the death
of the child.
Other chapters of the book deal with grandparents' rights when a child
is living with both parents or one parent and a step-parent. The
heart-rending situation of adoption is also dealt with. Miss Sutherland
says that nowadays, especially with children aged above 12, contact with
the birth family is more likely to occur. This may be changed this year
by the report of the Scottish Office that is due.
''My own grandfather, to whom I dedicate this book, was a man of great
wisdom who could always see a child's point of view. Anyone who has had
a grandparent early in life can tell you about this wonderful experience
from these people who have that little piece of time and experience and
perhaps a little more patience to meet a child's needs because they're
not dealing with the day-to-day child care. It is important to realise
the pleasure that grandchildren can derive from grandparents, not
forgetting the enormous pleasure that grandparents derive from their
grandchildren as well,'' said Miss Sutherland.
Maureen O'Neill, director of Age Concern Scotland, said that the
rights and emotional needs of grandparents are often taken for granted
or ignored. This book makes their position clear and is well illustrated
and easy to read from.
* Grandparents and the Law in Scotland is 82 pages and is available
from Age Concern Scotland, 54A Fountainbridge, Edinburgh, EH3 3PT, price
#5.95, including postage and packing, or at all good bookshops.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article