What is a Family Protection Plan?

A Family Protection Plan is essentially a legal document providing for the short-term custody and guardianship of your children and it serves one purpose--to keep your children from becoming wards of the state, meaning they will never be placed in child protective services, a receiving or foster home, or otherwise surrounded by strangers in the event you are missing, incapacitated, or dead.

Your Last Will and Testament will provide for the long-term guardianship of your minor children in the event of your death. But, who will have custody of them between the time of your death and when your Will is located and guardianship determined? What if your next-of-kin lives hours away or in another state? What if your local family is unavailable or unreachable for some reason? If the police do not have a legal document to rely upon when granting custody of your children to someone, they may decide that it is safer to call child protective services than to leave your them with a neighbor, even if that neighbor claims to be your best friend and have known your children their entire lives.

Think about your local friends, the ones who live in your neighborhood, whose kids play sports with your kids, who live 20 minutes or less away from you. While you may not want such people to be the long-term guardians of your children, you likely would prefer that your children stayed a few days with them rather than in a strange foster home with other, possibly older foster children who might expose your children to things you’d rather they weren’t exposed to.