ABSTRACT
The author picks up the theme of grandparental care and considers the way that legal rights safeguard relationships between children and grandparents. She suggests that a flexible legal approach is preferable and allows for a sustained focus on the welfare of the child. Through engaging with recent case law, she reveals the way in which a focus on biological relation has distorted litigation. She explores the issue of resources in a social and political context of austerity with a particular focus on the ways in which in terms of the resourcing of family justice, grandparents are often placed under considerable burdens by the privatising of what would otherwise be public cases. This has important implications for access to quality legal advice and representation. Where the grandparent has undertaken primary responsibility they will be in a strong position, both in applying for private orders and resisting interference from others seeking to disrupt that caring relationship, even the child's biological parents.
