DEAR ABBY: I am writing to you in order to reach grandparents of divorce who have been victimized by tangled state laws that make it difficult and expensive for them to visit their grandchildren if the custodial parent has moved out of state.
On Nov. 12, 1998, President Clinton signed into law a bill authored by Rep. Rob Andrews, D-N.J., that guarantees grandparents the right to visit their grandchildren anywhere in the United States, so long as a state court has provided for grandparent visitation. The law, known as the Visitation Rights Enforcement Act, requires states to recognize one another's visitation findings.
I was one of the thousands of grandparents who have experienced devastating difficulties trying to exercise my court-ordered visitation to my grandchildren. When my ex-daughter-in-law moved from New Jersey to North Carolina, I had to repeat the legal process all over again in North Carolina. I was granted visitation, but only after incurring three years of exorbitant legal fees, travel expenses and bureaucratic delay.
The Visitation Rights Enforcement Act mandates the reciprocal recognition of grandparents' rights once a state has ruled that those rights ought to exist, but please point out what this new law will not do: It will not impose a federal decision about grandparents' visitation rights on any state. The new law also does not preclude a new finding that changed circumstances or newly discovered inappropriate behavior might warrant the reversal of an earlier visitation order.
I urge grandparents to use this new law cautiously, but DO use it. -- JOSEPHINE M. D'ANTONIO, PRESIDENT OF GRANDPARENTS COUNT, CHERRY HILL, N.J.
DEAR JOSEPHINE: More than 75 percent of older Americans are grandparents. Congressman Rob Andrews advised me he sponsored the legislation because he had heard from many grandparents who had lost their relationship with their grandchildren when the state to which the custodial parent had moved would not grant visitation rights. I'm pleased to spread the news about the Visitation Rights Enforcement Act, which was designed to help frustrated grandparents keep in touch with their beloved grandchildren.