Ms. K, a mother with four children ages 11-17 contacted NLSP for help. She had a terminal illness that was progressing rapidly. She had arranged for family members to take care of the children while she was in the hospital. Ms. K wanted to be involved in her children’s lives as long as possible. She also wanted to make sure that in the event of her death, the children were not separated, put in foster care because of ambiguous custody or worst of all, lost to the streets.

NLSP lawyers worked quickly to help Ms. K. give custodial powers of attorney to her chosen family members, allowing her to stay involved in her children’s life while she was in the hospital and for her chosen guardians to enroll the children in school. NLSP also helped her designate the family members as standby guardians to give the family members custody upon her death without having to go through messy custody proceedings.

Although Ms. K passed away a short time later, her children were able to stay together and receive constant care from family members she trusted.