What rights does my friend have to keep her daughter away from her paranoid schizophreniac mother?

Question

My friend left home at 15 y/o to live in a womens refuge because her mother is an undiagnosed paranoid schizophreniac. Her mother has been making her life hell the last 10 years and now with the birth of her child her mother wants access to him. Understandably my friend wants her son to have no communication with to its grandmother. What rights does my friend have to keep her child away? Does she have to spend thousands of $$$ to keep her child safe?

Answer 1

Your friend has every right and obligation to keep her child safe from any person that could pose a threat to the child's physical, psychological well being, grandparents who seek visitation rights have to go through the legal channels to obtain this and as one poster has pointed out she may only be granted supervised access if successful.

The only money she needs to spend would be to move as far away as possible before the poor girl has a nervous breakdown.

Answer 2

The mother of the child makes the rules. If she doesn't want the child around the grandmother, then she doesn't have to have the child around the grandmother.

In the event the grandmother wanted to pursue visitation rights- then I'd tell your friend to tell her mother to have at it- I'm sure there is documentation somewhere of the schizophrenia...if nothing else, the grandmother MIGHT get supervised visitation.

Answer 3

tell her to get a restraining order, or order of protection