For the Child
- Adoption legally terminates parents’ rights, legal relationship, and legal responsibility to their child. This can be detrimental to the child’s well-being and not in their best interests due to their desire to maintain a relationship with and connection to their parents and extended family.
- Guardianship promotes child well-being because permanence with a relative or fictive kin leads to greater placement stability and higher likelihood that siblings are kept together. Guardianship facilitates positive identity formation by maintaining a child’s sense of belonging and connection to their extended family and culture.
- Guardianship maintains the legal relationship and family dynamics between the child and their parents, siblings, and extended family. For example, Grandma stays Grandma. Therefore, this option may feel like a natural progression for the child because their relationship and their role in the family stays intact.
- Guardianship honors and facilitates a common cultural practice and belief of “families take care of their own.” Additionally, some tribal cultures do not believe in terminating parental rights. Consultation with the child’s tribe is critical because each tribe has their own tribal traditions, customs or resolutions, codes and laws regarding child welfare practice, and this guidance does not supersede ICWA and WICWA requirements.
- Guardianship also maintains parents’ right to reasonable visitation with their child. There is not a legal definition of “reasonable visitation”, therefore the guardian and the child’s parents determine what that means, unless specified via court order. As in all families, navigating relationships can be tricky. Yet, over time, trust can be built and relationships mended when families build upon their emotional connections and healing as a family.
- With subsidized guardianship, the child maintains eligibility for services and support including:
- Foster Care Medicaid (FSTMA) coverage until the Subsidized Guardianship Agreement terminates: https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/medicaid#support
- If the child leaves out-of-home care on or after their 16th birthday, they can continue receiving Independent Living Services up to age 23 (in most cases): https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/ys/independentliving
- Which includes paying for college, career planning, getting a job, finding a safe and steady place to live, money management, increasing knowledge about medical coverage and obtaining important documents, and creating goals for the future: https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/ys/college