Forward Focus Therapy, LLC

What kinds of families use guardianship?

Guardianship is most often used in families where a child is already being raised by someone other than their parent.

The most common situations:

Kinship care
Grandparents, aunts/uncles, older siblings
The child already knows and trusts the caregiver

Fictive kin / chosen family
Close family friends, godparents, trusted adults
Family” built through relationship, not biology

Parents unable to parent full-time
• Illness, incarceration, instability
• Another adult steps in for daily care

Long-term informal caregiving
• A temporary situation becomes permanent
• Guardianship provides legal authority and stability

Guardianship is usually used when there is already:
a committed adult
an existing relationship
a stable caregiving situation

It doesn’t create a family — it formalizes and protects one that already exists.