The grandmothers’ stories followed a similar narrative: They formed a relationship with their grandchild, family dynamics shifted and now they are no longer permitted to see the child.
“I haven’t seen my grandchild since February of 2013,” said Judi Sullivan of Vancouver. “I try every six months to reach out. … It’s very, very hard.”
One of the state’s more emotionally charged issues is the battle between parents’ rights to decide who spends time with and influences their child and grandparents’ rights to see a child they love.
On a recent sunny afternoon, a handful of local grandmothers collected signatures to qualify Initiative 1431 for the ballot with the hope it will be voters who decide in November whether the state should have a grandparent visitation law.
Approval of the initiative wouldn’t mean grandparents could automatically override a parent’s decision.
“Courts still have to do their due diligence,” said Alixandra Hunsucker, 53, one of the grandmothers, who said her grandchild lived with her more than six years before she was unable to see the child again.
The issue has been ongoing for more than a decade, playing out in the court system, in the Legislature and in people’s homes. A U.S. Supreme Court decision in 2000 held that a fit parent acts in the child’s best interest and the court must defer to the parent’s decision.
“In 2005, the Washington Supreme Court actually raised the bar further. For the state of Washington to interfere … there would have to be harm or substantial risk of harm,” said Sen. Jamie Pedersen, D-Seattle. “Washington has literally been the only state in the country for 16 years where there is no mechanism for someone who is not a parent to overcome the decision of a fit parent, so there have been numerous attempts … to re-establish a visitation right.”
Pedersen said he understands the court’s logic that most parents consider what is in the best interest of their child. Initiative 1431, and similar legislation he plans to champion if the initiative fails, would continue to presume an able parent has the child’s best interest in mind.
But, he added, “from my perspective, there has to be a safety valve for the kids to get an unbiased, outside view on that question.”
The senator, who is a parent himself, said sometimes parents “are focused on whatever the dysfunction is on the adult relationship rather than the need for the kids.”
The measure would continue to presume parents’ rights are paramount, but it would create a process in which their decision could be challenged. The grandparent or third party who wants visitation rights would need to prove a substantial relationship with the child. The person wanting visitation rights must also be related by blood or legally bound to the child. And the challenger would have to show how it might hurt the child if the parent cuts off contact.
“We trust judges for all sorts of things more complicated than this,” Pedersen said.
Kimberly Drouillard, a Vancouver resident and champion of the initiative, is planning a rally for later this month at Esther Short Park in downtown Vancouver to gather more signatures. To qualify for the statewide ballot, advocates will need to collect 246,372 valid signatures from registered Washington voters by July 8.
Drouillard said she’s worried her grandchildren won’t understand why she’s no longer in their lives.
“It’s devastating,” she said.
