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“After Divorcing, the 3 children, ages 4, 6 and 10 were taken away from the biological mother from Child Protective Services. The father signed his rights over so that the Grandparents of the Children can adopt them. The father has paid child support through wage garnishment. The biological mother is getting the child support check, but she does not have custody of the children. Is this legal and what can we do about it?”
Question: Orders are good until they are modified. It seems that the support should go to wherever the children are in foster care. Since father has voluntarily relinquished his parental rights, he is not in the position to take custody of the children. He should encourage foster parents (grandparents?) to make sure they interface with the support collection office to make sure support is going to them. As long as father continues to make his payments he is following the court order, so he is likely not running afoul of any law. He could contact the support collection office just to make sure that he is doing what ie legally required of him, and if that office has this information regarding the custody of the children. If there is no governmental agency involved (I do not see how as CPS and foster care are involved) he could file a motion to modify support and seek to join the children’s custodian to the case.
