Ohio Sibling Rights Act

September 14, 2025

Not all proposals start in Ohio, and the base for this one came from a conversation with a friend in Nebraska who has two exs that will not allow the children he has with them to see the siblings they have from the other relationship. These siblings know the other siblings well and want to see the others, but the mothers will not allow visits to happen between the children. While Jerry and his children live in Nebraska, I accepted the challenge to try to come up with a simple solution.

This is something that has never been proposed or discussed in any state to the best of our knowledge, so there exists no example to work from. While states do have third-party visitation laws, they do not cover this issue. While similar, placement does belong in the third-party visitation section of the state law.

I wanted to make this so the minor could file this with the help of a “next best friend,” which can be any person who has reached maturity and is willing to help the minor. It took some creative thinking, but we believe we do have a solution that will work in Nebraska and will work here in Ohio.

One of the grandmothers that I work with approached her representative, and he agreed to have a conference call to discuss this. I joined Representative Bird and Luiza McQueen on the call and explained the concept and that this would do. The representative agreed to proceed.

The proposed bill – See Here

The proposal is currently working its way through the process towards introduction now. There have been several emails and questions asked along the way. I have answered the questions promptly so that the gears keep moving forward.

First Questions – See Here

Answers to those questions – See Here

Then there were more questions – See Here