Shirley M. Berens, MHR, MNM, Paralegal, NCAPG Advocate
Executive Director
Grandparents Resource Center

Use of the National Court Advocates Program for Grandparents (NCAPG) consults on issues relating to Visitation, Allocation of Parental Responsibility (custody) and Adoption. The NCAPG has become very desirable in grandparent visitation, custody cases, as an efficient and cost-effective way to deal with ongoing issues between the parents, grandparents, or if human services has become involved.

In this approach to win (the) your case and achieve the best interests of your grandchild the NCAPG program puts your case together by using the best team of social workers, forensic psychologists, attorneys, media specialists, private investigators, law researchers, mediators and paralegals. Three advantages to using the NCAPG advocate team are as follows:

1. The NCAPG advocate will save you time and the emotional trauma of trying to do your case yourself, while saving you from hiring the wrong people to help you get custody, visitation or adoption. National Court Advocates Program for Grandparents (NCAPG) has people who are on your side, experienced, educated and dedicated to achieving your objective.
2. The process may be shorter. If necessary a decision can be obtained within hours or days, while the process of bringing a petition to court can take two to nine months before receiving a decision.
3. Unlike the judge, an NCAPG advocate can investigate the matter by talking to the parties and anyone else, as well as order background checks, pertinent information, reviewing court records, etc.

The team members who work for the Grandparents Resource Center as an NCAPG advocate are from mental health, social work, or legal backgrounds. Approximately 10% of those are paralegals/lawyers. Generally, if you decide to hire one of our lawyers it will be a bit more expensive than the paralegal, but they are still part of the team if you wish to retain them.

If you do not fill out the appropriate court documents the court will vacate your petition; your case will be thrown out of court disabling you from getting custody, visitation or adoption of your grandchild. The NCAPG advocate is there to protect your interests in continuing to grandparent your grandchild.

The criticism the NCAPG advocates have faced predominately a group of non-lawyers is that the legal profession does not appear to appreciate advocates who work out disputes between the parties before it reaches the judge's bench. Reaching an agreement is ideal if there is an obvious solution.
For the most part, you just need a decision; and not a mushy decision that raises more issues than it resolves, but a clearly written decision which definitively resolves the issue presented. We can help you with that.

However, if you are working your own case pro se, our participation in the case or cases has proven to be very effective in helping you present your case before the judge so the outcome will be in your favor and in the best interests of the child.
You can reach us at:

Grandparents Resource Center
P.O. Box 27064
Denver, CO
303-980-5707
grc4usa@aol.com
www.grc4usa.org