FAQs on this topic are provided in booklet form. The booklet is for grandparents who want to know about their rights and options with respect to their grandchildren.
- For grandparents who are currently being, or are worried that they will be, denied access to their grandchildren, this booklet explains what is involved in obtaining access with your grandchildren through a “contact order”.
- For grandparents who are concerned about the safety and well-being of their grandchildren, this booklet outlines the various options that would enable those grandparents to care for those grandchildren.
The booklet also provides link to grandparents’ organizations that can help with all aspects of these issues.
The information in this booklet is for general use only, not legal advice. It is not a do-it-yourself guide. For that, you need a more detailed self-help publication or legal advice. See the last few pages of this booklet for information on where to get this help.
Click here to view or download and print the booklet “Grandparents’ Rights”
Links”
Apply for a Contact Order
You can apply for a Contact Order if you would like to have contact with the child and visit them, and you’re not the child’s guardian. For a third party or a parent that’s not a guardian, a Contact Order: sets out their allowed contact with the child – in-person visits, phone calls, letters, etc. but doesn’t give them responsibilities and rights over the child
- Alberta Grandparents Association
- The Child’s Right to Love: Information for grandparents, relatives, and others close to the child. A publication of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre
This booklet is for people who want to maintain a relationship with a child. The law says that a child is any person under the age of 18. The child may be your grandchild, niece or nephew, or the child of a friend or former partner. - The Right to Love: Grandparent’s Rights (Video)
- General Information Booklet on Guardianship, Parenting, Custody, Access and Contact (See pgs 12-14 “What is Contact?”)
If you are not a guardian of a child, but want to be able to spend time with the child, you can apply for Contact. - Calgary Legal Guidance: How to Enforce a Parenting or Contact Order
- Court Forms for Matters under the Family Law Act
- Family Law Kits – A list of forms for lawyers and self-represented individuals who are dealing with family law matters.
