Currently, grandparents in Alabama do not have any right to visit their grandchildren if the parents don't want them to see them. But the Alabama House of Representatives is currently considering a bill that would expand grandparents' visitation rights.

The bill would allow grandparents who have an established relationship with their grandchildren to petition for visitation rights even where the parent related to the grandparents loses parental rights or abandons the children.

A similar bill was passed last session by the Alabama House of Representatives, though then Governor Bob Riley vetoed the measure because of the bill's language.

Among the bill's supporters is a grandfather whose grandchildren were poisoned with antifreeze last fall by their step mother in an attempt to reduce parental responsibilities for herself and her husband. The bill is also supported by a woman who was unable to see her grandchildren for several years because the grandchildren were in the custody of their step-father, who refused to allow visitation.

Missouri law allows courts to grant reasonable visitation rights to grandparents where the parents of the child have filed for divorce, when one parent has died and the remaining parent refuses reasonable visitation, when the child has lived with the grandparents for at least six months within a twenty four month period prior to the petition, or when a grandparent is denied reasonable visitation for over 90 days.

As always courts will consider the best interests of the children in making any visitation determination.

Source: www.baldwincountynow.com, "Grandparents' visitation bill gets a push," Allyson Stinson, 3 March 2011.