Grandparents in Custody and Access Disputes

Abstract

All custody and access dispute cases referred to a court clinic during a one year period were examined to determine the extent of grandparental involvement and its impact, if any, on the recommendations made to the courts. Two-thirds of family law cases referred (67%) were found to have grandparental involvement. Grandparents were referred to in 77% of all court reports and mentioned specifically in the recommendations in 37% of these. Over one quarter (27%) of the clinicians stated that they would have made different recommendations had the grandparents not been involved. More than one-third of the parents and three-quarters of their children had actually lived in the grandparents' home during or after the parental separation. Grandparents may have an important role in actualizing the best interests of children involved in painful and disruptive disputes.