My granddaughter that I have guardianship of isn't blood related, but she's mine. My late husband and I filed when she was 1 1/2, after I pulled up to a motel room where her mother and her druggie friends were in a circle around this poor baby in an umbrella stroller. She was looking up, confused at the lack of attention.
I found out after getting her, that she had been left alone every night while her mother was at the bar, dealing drugs.
In the near future, I'm going to petition the court to let me move her out of state. Neither one of her birth parents have time for her. I have to move her away so she doesn't have to be in the same town, wishing for contact that never comes.
I was 50 when she was born. Considering my eldest sister was 34 when she became a grandmother, I thought I was fine becoming a grandmother at 42, when my son had his first child. I'm now almost 61, and will turn 68 the year my granddaughter who lives with me turns 18.
I didn't let her go to foster care, so I don't get the same benefits most guardians get. I don't mind. She's safe and healthy.