In Massachusetts there are both guardianships and adoption. A guardianship can be a temporary guardianship.  There can be review dates in 90 days or 6 months or it can be called a “Permanent Guardianship”, even a permanent guardianship does not automatically mean that the parents lose parental rights.  Typically, the parents have the right to vacate the guardianship unless the guardianship includes a termination of parental rights which is more likely to happen when DCF is the Petitioner and more likely to happen in Juvenile Court than Probate Court.

An adoption is something where the parental rights are terminated, and you cannot then go and contest the adoption after the fact even if there is a change in circumstances. There can be an Open Adoption that will allow some visits, but even with an option adoption you can’t seek an increase in visits just a determination if the visits should still occur per the Open Adoption Agreement.

More often the guardianships and adoptions are in Probate Court, but if DCF is involved it is more often that it is in Juvenile Court.