I know entirely too many people who do not get to see their grandchildren for no unjust reason. Regardless if the parent gets mad and CHOOSES not to let the grandparent see their grandchild OR if a parent becomes incarcerated or even passes away, a grandparent and a child both deserve a chance to share a bond. My kids have been around my parents since day one and I coukd never imagine someone not wanting or not allowing them to see my kids if something happened to me. WV is suffering a major drug epidemic and sadly, many who pass have one or more children. However, sometimes when a parent passes away, or becomes incarcerated the other parent will have custody and the grandparents may not get to see their grandchild again, if ever. Legally, the other parent, or any parent for that matter can pick and choose who they allow to spend time with their child unless court ordered otherwise. In the state of WV, grandparents legally have no rights and that is wrong. A child can go from seeing their grandparent every day or even every weekend to never seeing them again. Has anyone stopped to REALLY think of what that does mentally and emotionally to children? The following is quoted from a grandparent's previous petition from 2013 that sadly has been closed. " Grandparent Law of West Virginia needs over hauled. Our state Family Court judges are still ignoring a fundamental right that each child should have, which is a relationship with their Grandparents!! Many children have already established relationships with their Grandparents from birth, and because of divorce/separation of their parents, or their parent’s lose custody of them, their Grandparents are unfairly ripped from their lives. We are not asking for custody of our grandchildren or for our grandchildren to be forced to be around adults who have been proven to be unfit, we are merely asking to be able to visit with our grandchildren regardless of if their parents are married, divorced, separated, or not living together.....we do not want our grandchildren to continue to be used as pawns in custody battles or for one side of their family to be shut out of their lives merely because their parents can’t get along and are trying to hurt each other or trying to hurt us. If our own child is called away for extended periods of time due to their military obligations, job, or other unforseen circumstances we want to continue to visit with our grandchildren in their absence, not have to wait 12 months to see them again. If our own child should die, we do not want to be shut out of our grandchildren's lives because the other parent has remarried or is in a relationship with someone else. Unless there are justifiable reasons, or our actions warrant otherwise, the following is what we are fighting for: We want to continue to have visitation with our Grandchildren even if their parent’s separate, divorce or no longer live together (no matter what the circustance); We want in cases where one of the parent’s is away because of military service, their job or any unforseen reason, the grandparents continue to be able to have visitation in that parent’s absence; We want a portion of the parenting plan to address this visitation and it to be spelled out in the beginning so we don’t have to go to court to continue seeing our grandchildren; We want to be the first considered for guardianship for our grandchildren in the case where their parents lose custody. If we are deemed fit, we want our grandchildren to live with us instead of place in foster care. If our grandchildren are in foster care because it is their best interest, if deemed fit, we want to be able to visit with them. We want Family Court judges to be forced to up hold the laws already in place and not force us to go to a higher court. Family dynamics have changed in the past decade and in some children's lives the one consistant thing they can count on is their grandparents. These children, in most cases, have already established relationships with their grandparents and through no falut of their own, their grandparents are ripped away. We are not trying to infringe on anyone else's rights, all we are asking for is to spend time with our grandchildren and be a part of their lives. "