Legal Guardianships & Help With Children's Medical Care

Without guardianship, minor children who become a part of a foster care system have their health decisions and medical assistance decided on by the state and case workers. If you're a family member of a child in the foster system, you need to take legal steps to have any authority over the child's health decisions.



When you take the steps to become a legal guardian, you will be granted a lot of authority over the child's health. The healthcare provided for a child goes far beyond just annual check-ups and regular appointments. Legal guardianship can prevent delays in healthcare and extends many other benefits as well.

Check out all the ways a legal guardianship can make a big impact on a child's healthcare coverage and the role you can play in their proper healthcare.

Medical Insurance Coverage Options

While children in foster care may qualify for state-based health insurance, guardianship gives you the opportunity to add a minor to your own health insurance. Putting a child on a guardian's insurance plan comes with many benefits. Your plan may include extended coverage beyond the typical insurance.

For example, your plan may include a comprehensive dental plan that includes multiple cleanings per year along with digital imaging like x-rays. Other health plans may include vision plans as well. Compare the plans and choose the best options for the child. A guardianship could include insurance coverage for extended years when the child still lives with you.

Legal guardianship can protect their health coverage and lessen any out-of-pocket costs you may endure.

Medical Decisions

If a child suffers an injury or cannot make proper medical decisions on their own, then you will want to be there to make the proper and informed decisions. Without guardianship, the decisions could go to the courts. While a judge would try and make the best decision possible, you would rather have important health decisions come directly from a trusted family member.

The need for a judge to sign off on medical decisions could also create further issues, especially in timely health matters. A delay could result in more pain, damage, or irreversible conditions. Someone with guardianship can make a decision right away.

Guardianship also limits who in the family can make the decision. As a legal guardian, you do not need to worry about other family members trying to make the decisions or going down a path you do not choose. The guardians have the final say and can make the best decision for a child in an appropriate amount of time.

Sports & Physical Activities

Not every medical decision made for a child needs to involve emergency circumstances. If a child wants to participate in sports or physical activities, then guardianship will help the process go smoothly. When they enroll in sports, a child will often need signed medical release forms that include safety measures and procedures.

A guardian would also supply medical history information and copies of physicals. Without legal access, a doctor may not give copies of the physical to a person raising the child. A child would have to go through courts to get documents approved, and a child could easily miss the sign-up times for sports and activities.

With guardianship, you could avoid all of the hassle and ensure the child can sign up for sports. You can provide your signatures, fill out medical release forms, and get everything done in a timely manner so a child can still participate. You can also make decisions on a child's care if they get injured at a sports event and need medical care.

Prescriptions & Treatments

A child in your care may need regular prescriptions or prescriptions for short-term ailments like a flu or an allergic reaction. Just like other medical decisions, guardianship will make the process easy. For example, if a child needs a refill on a prescription, you can reach out to a doctor and get the prescription without extra steps in the process.

A child will not miss out on days when they need pills. You also have the authority to choose proper vaccinations for the child. A child may need annual vaccines or one-time vaccines when health issues have occurred. With guardianship, you will have the authority over the vaccines and do not need a court's approval to properly vaccinate a child.

Medical health is very important and every child needs individual care based on their ailments, genetics, and health history. As a guardian, you can provide for those needs and ensure a child doesn't get lost in the system. The quicker you go through the guardianship process, the quicker you can make proper decisions about a person's health.

For more information regarding guardianship, contact us at Hart Law Offices, PC. We can represent you and help you achieve proper guardianship status. Our legal team can go through all of the paperwork needed and prevent any delays due to missing information or missed applications.