Letter: Please support Initiative 877 to guarantee grandparents’ rights

I would like to bring attention to Tri-City citizens and voters of legislative Initiative 877, Children Need Grandparents, that I am co-sponsoring. People all over the state of Washington will be asking for your support and signature during the next six months. We are a grass-roots organization and need to collect 340,000 signatures by Dec. 30.

Washington is the only state that does not have a grandparent/grandchild visitation law in place. This initiative will only give visitation rights to a legal grandparent related to the child by blood or by law. Those rights will be awarded through the court system. In cases of death, divorce or dysfunction of a parent, the other can retain custody and make controlling decisions, sometimes leaving a child wondering what happened to grandpa and grandma. Even Child Protective Services has legal custody over grandparents.

Please support Initiative 877. We will soon have a website and Facebook page, but you can get more information by emailing grandparentsrights300@yahoo.com or by leaving a message on our private message line at 509-820-2130. We will be visible in the state gathering signatures beginning July 18, continuing through Dec. 30.

Thank you for supporting us.

This story was originally published July 19, 2016 at 3:28 AM with the headline "Letter: Please support Initiative 877 to guarantee grandparents’ rights."