Should I do this? Possibly adopting cousins's grandson.

[Anonymous]

Good for you. If the parents are not contesting you caring for him, legal guardianship is sufficient. It will give you the same benefits in terms of caring for him, for health insurance reasons, etc. Adoption technically is more stable but in your situation it sounds unnecessary. The only loophole to that is if he remains under guardianship, as an adult he will not have the same rights as a biological or adopted child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Good for you. If the parents are not contesting you caring for him, legal guardianship is sufficient. It will give you the same benefits in terms of caring for him, for health insurance reasons, etc. Adoption technically is more stable but in your situation it sounds unnecessary. The only loophole to that is if he remains under guardianship, as an adult he will not have the same rights as a biological or adopted child.

In other words, he won't be entitled to an inheritance from you or your spouse (assuming that your spouse is also an adoptive parent). You can, however, name him in your will to receive an inheritance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am feeling really conflicted about this. My older cousin (who also lives in DC)'s daughter recently got in trouble with the law and can no longer take care of her 12 year old son. He is currently staying with my cousin, but her and her husband are older and have come to me to ask if I would be willing to adopt/take in this kid. His dad is not in the picture.

Financially, we can handle it. We has a 12 YO DS ourselves (who gets along with the kid) and both me and DH have stable jobs. To be honest I've thought about adopting before because we always wanted more then one kid (medical issues with me made it not really possible, sadly) but we never went through with it.

I like the kid, but I'm not sure if we want to go through with it- I told my cousin that we would have to think about it. I'm worried that once his mom gets out of jail we could get caught up in a lot of drama and I don't want him to have to go through that. It is also a lot of responsibility and money. I was just wondering if any of you had any experiences that could help us, or any suggestions about our situation.

How old is older? That is OP's cousin's grandson. The grandparents don't want to raise their grandson? Is this an issue where they don't want their jailed daughter to come to their house when she is released? Perhaps they know something about their daughter and her son that OP does not know. Where will the mother live when she is out of jail? OP's house or her parents or wherever? 12 and up is a social change point and a person that age should be spending a lot of time in school/activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for you. If the parents are not contesting you caring for him, legal guardianship is sufficient. It will give you the same benefits in terms of caring for him, for health insurance reasons, etc. Adoption technically is more stable but in your situation it sounds unnecessary. The only loophole to that is if he remains under guardianship, as an adult he will not have the same rights as a biological or adopted child.

In other words, he won't be entitled to an inheritance from you or your spouse (assuming that your spouse is also an adoptive parent). You can, however, name him in your will to receive an inheritance.

That, but there is more too it. Legally, that child as an adult, for example, if he should become a caretaker to the parents may have to go to court for guardianship as hospitals and nursing homes may not accept his family status.