OP ALA, Justice.
The dispositive issue for review is whether a grandparent’s claim for access and companionship of their deceased daughter’s offspring, which arose before it became remediable under 10 O.S.1981 § 5,1 is actionable under that section. We answer in the affirmative and hold that because the legislature intended for the 1981 amendment to apply to all grandparental claims .of access and to prevent the offspring’s alienation from the grandparents [94]*94when one parent is deceased, the district court erred in denying the claim by its judgment on the father’s demurrer to the petition.
The grandparents’ daughter, killed by her husband, was survived by a one-year old child. After the mother’s death the child’s father refused to allow them access to her. The grandparents brought this suit, asserting that they had a statutory claim to the companionship of their grandchild under 10 O.S.1981 § 5. The father demurred to the petition. He asserted, and now argues here, that the grandparents’ claim is governed by the provisions of 10 O.S.Supp.1978 § 5,2 the statute in effect at the time of the mother’s death. The 1978 act, the father asserts, had been interpreted in Julien v. Gardner3 to grant grand-parental access only where both of the child’s parents are deceased or if they are divorced. The trial court rendered judgment for the father on his demurrer, and the grandparents bring this appeal.
Extant case law has confined grandpa-rental claims of access to those conferred by statute.4 While our pronouncement in this cause is based upon general principles of statutory construction, our mission is not only to ascertain legislative intent from a series of amendments § 5 has undergone, but also to impart some degree of harmony and consistency to the manifested statutory design.5
I
HISTORY OF 10 O.S.1971 § 5
With the 1971 amendment of § 5, grandparents were given standing to assert a claim for access to their offspring only when one or both parents is deceased.6 A 1975 amendment extended the grandparents’ claim of access if the parents of the child were divorced.7
This court interpreted § 5 in the Matter of Fox,8 decided in 1977. There, the children were adopted by the paternal grandparents after their son, the children’s natural father, had given his consent following the death of the children’s mother. The maternal grandmother sought and was granted access to her grandchildren. The trial court’s order was reversed because the statute did not provide for grandparen-tal access in the case of adoption.9
To remove the textual impediments found to be present in Fox, the legislature amended § 5 in 1978 to provide for grand-parental claim of access when “both parents are deceased or if they are divorced”. Paragraph 3 of the 1978 version authorized grandparental access if one natural parent is deceased and the surviving natural parent remarries, with the added proviso that any subsequent adoption proceeding will not terminate the grandparental rights of the decedent’s parents unless so ordered by the trial court.10
[95]*95In 1981 this court promulgated Julien v. Gardner,11 where the grandparents asserted a claim for access to their deceased daughter’s offspring then in the custody of their father. The opinion held that the 1978 version of § 5 no longer sanctioned grandparental access when only one parent was deceased.12 In the wake of Gardner § 5 was again amended, in 1981 to provide for visitation when one or both parents is deceased.13
Lastly, in 1982, we held in Matter of K.S., T.W. & G.S.14 that grandparents could not assert a claim for access when their child’s parental rights had been terminated. In response to this pronouncement, the legislature amended § 5 in 1984 by adding paragraph C to provide for access by the grandparents whose child’s parental rights had been terminated.15
As expressed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, “it is not an adequate discharge of duty for courts to say: We see what you are driving at, but you have not said it, and therefore we shall go on as before”.16 The manifest objective of the series of amendments was to make alienation from grandparents remediable in all the described circumstances. The primary goal of this court in construing statutory enactments is to carry into effect the intent of the legislature.17
II
REMEDIABILITY OF CONDITIONS IN EXISTENCE BEFORE A REMEDY FOR THEIR CORRECTION CAME TO BE ENACTED
Although statutes are generally presumed to operate prospectively and not retroactively,18 this presumption does not defy rebuttal if the purpose and intention of the legislature to extend the benefit of a statute to situations then in existence are expressly declared or are necessarily implied from the language used.19 Words alone are not the only decisive factor in resolving the issue. It is not necessary for a statute expressly to state that it is intended to remedy existing conditions if such an intention can be obtained by viewing its purpose and the method of its enactment. The presumption against retrospective application stands subordinated to the most fundamental rule of construction that mandates an interpretation which will ef[96]*96fectuate the legislative design.20 In short, where the legislature has not explicitly set forth what it intended, the presumption against retroactivity should not be followed in complete disregard of factors that may give a clue to the legislative intent. Only if we were to fail in detecting legislative intent after looking at all the available indi-cia, would the presumption of prospectivity operate.21 In the presence of indicia that strongly militate in favor of the statute’s application to existing conditions the father must do more than simply rely on the presumption against retroactive application.
According to the father, the relief affordable by § 5 must be confined to grandparental complaints which arose after they became remediable by that section; claims that owe their existence to an event which occurred before a remedy for its correction came to be enacted into law are to remain nonactionable. In essence, the father maintains that because at the time of the mother’s death — the critical remedy-triggering event — the grandparents had no recognized statutory claim to access, he now has a “vested right” in the continued state of his child’s alienation from its grandparents. The constitutional shield from impairment or invasion of a person's “accrued, acquired or established” interest by after-enacted legislation is extended to “a matured cause of action or some legal authority to demand redress”.22 The father’s stake in his child’s state of alienation does not fall under the protected rubric.
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OP ALA, Justice.
The dispositive issue for review is whether a grandparent’s claim for access and companionship of their deceased daughter’s offspring, which arose before it became remediable under 10 O.S.1981 § 5,1 is actionable under that section. We answer in the affirmative and hold that because the legislature intended for the 1981 amendment to apply to all grandparental claims .of access and to prevent the offspring’s alienation from the grandparents [94]*94when one parent is deceased, the district court erred in denying the claim by its judgment on the father’s demurrer to the petition.
The grandparents’ daughter, killed by her husband, was survived by a one-year old child. After the mother’s death the child’s father refused to allow them access to her. The grandparents brought this suit, asserting that they had a statutory claim to the companionship of their grandchild under 10 O.S.1981 § 5. The father demurred to the petition. He asserted, and now argues here, that the grandparents’ claim is governed by the provisions of 10 O.S.Supp.1978 § 5,2 the statute in effect at the time of the mother’s death. The 1978 act, the father asserts, had been interpreted in Julien v. Gardner3 to grant grand-parental access only where both of the child’s parents are deceased or if they are divorced. The trial court rendered judgment for the father on his demurrer, and the grandparents bring this appeal.
Extant case law has confined grandpa-rental claims of access to those conferred by statute.4 While our pronouncement in this cause is based upon general principles of statutory construction, our mission is not only to ascertain legislative intent from a series of amendments § 5 has undergone, but also to impart some degree of harmony and consistency to the manifested statutory design.5
I
HISTORY OF 10 O.S.1971 § 5
With the 1971 amendment of § 5, grandparents were given standing to assert a claim for access to their offspring only when one or both parents is deceased.6 A 1975 amendment extended the grandparents’ claim of access if the parents of the child were divorced.7
This court interpreted § 5 in the Matter of Fox,8 decided in 1977. There, the children were adopted by the paternal grandparents after their son, the children’s natural father, had given his consent following the death of the children’s mother. The maternal grandmother sought and was granted access to her grandchildren. The trial court’s order was reversed because the statute did not provide for grandparen-tal access in the case of adoption.9
To remove the textual impediments found to be present in Fox, the legislature amended § 5 in 1978 to provide for grand-parental claim of access when “both parents are deceased or if they are divorced”. Paragraph 3 of the 1978 version authorized grandparental access if one natural parent is deceased and the surviving natural parent remarries, with the added proviso that any subsequent adoption proceeding will not terminate the grandparental rights of the decedent’s parents unless so ordered by the trial court.10
[95]*95In 1981 this court promulgated Julien v. Gardner,11 where the grandparents asserted a claim for access to their deceased daughter’s offspring then in the custody of their father. The opinion held that the 1978 version of § 5 no longer sanctioned grandparental access when only one parent was deceased.12 In the wake of Gardner § 5 was again amended, in 1981 to provide for visitation when one or both parents is deceased.13
Lastly, in 1982, we held in Matter of K.S., T.W. & G.S.14 that grandparents could not assert a claim for access when their child’s parental rights had been terminated. In response to this pronouncement, the legislature amended § 5 in 1984 by adding paragraph C to provide for access by the grandparents whose child’s parental rights had been terminated.15
As expressed by the First Circuit Court of Appeals, “it is not an adequate discharge of duty for courts to say: We see what you are driving at, but you have not said it, and therefore we shall go on as before”.16 The manifest objective of the series of amendments was to make alienation from grandparents remediable in all the described circumstances. The primary goal of this court in construing statutory enactments is to carry into effect the intent of the legislature.17
II
REMEDIABILITY OF CONDITIONS IN EXISTENCE BEFORE A REMEDY FOR THEIR CORRECTION CAME TO BE ENACTED
Although statutes are generally presumed to operate prospectively and not retroactively,18 this presumption does not defy rebuttal if the purpose and intention of the legislature to extend the benefit of a statute to situations then in existence are expressly declared or are necessarily implied from the language used.19 Words alone are not the only decisive factor in resolving the issue. It is not necessary for a statute expressly to state that it is intended to remedy existing conditions if such an intention can be obtained by viewing its purpose and the method of its enactment. The presumption against retrospective application stands subordinated to the most fundamental rule of construction that mandates an interpretation which will ef[96]*96fectuate the legislative design.20 In short, where the legislature has not explicitly set forth what it intended, the presumption against retroactivity should not be followed in complete disregard of factors that may give a clue to the legislative intent. Only if we were to fail in detecting legislative intent after looking at all the available indi-cia, would the presumption of prospectivity operate.21 In the presence of indicia that strongly militate in favor of the statute’s application to existing conditions the father must do more than simply rely on the presumption against retroactive application.
According to the father, the relief affordable by § 5 must be confined to grandparental complaints which arose after they became remediable by that section; claims that owe their existence to an event which occurred before a remedy for its correction came to be enacted into law are to remain nonactionable. In essence, the father maintains that because at the time of the mother’s death — the critical remedy-triggering event — the grandparents had no recognized statutory claim to access, he now has a “vested right” in the continued state of his child’s alienation from its grandparents. The constitutional shield from impairment or invasion of a person's “accrued, acquired or established” interest by after-enacted legislation is extended to “a matured cause of action or some legal authority to demand redress”.22 The father’s stake in his child’s state of alienation does not fall under the protected rubric. He has no constitutionally articu-lable claim to the state of grandparental visitation law that may have been in force when the mother died.23
Given the history of 10 O.S.1971 § 5, we conclude that the legislative purpose and design will be accomplished if the 1981 version is applied to situations in existence at the time of its enactment. This view is also consistent with extant case law in which the statute has been so applied.
Ill
PRIOR APPLICATION OF THE § 5 AMENDMENTS
Extant case law has interpreted the § 5 amendments to govern grandparental quests in existence at the time of enactment. In the Matter of K.S., T. W. & G.S.24 the parental rights of the mother had been terminated in 1979. There, we gauged the maternal grandparents’ claim to access by the terms of 10 O.S.1981 § 5. If the 1981 version were inapplicable, our assessment would have been based on 10 O.S.Supp. [97]*971978 § 5, the statute in force when the maternal rights came to be terminated.
In Application of Grover25 maternal grandparents were denied custody of their underage offspring in a contest with the father. The mother had died in 1979. In denying custody to the grandparents, who had cared for the child over three years, we noted that our pronouncement “... should not be taken to prohibit the grandparents from proceeding to obtain reasonable rights of visitation to the child provided for in 10 O.S.1981 § 5 ...” 26 Unless the 1981 amendment were invocable by the grandparents in Grover, our holding in Julien v. Gardner27 would have barred their claim for access to their daughter’s offspring.
Lastly, in Looper v. McManus,28 decided in 1978 by the Court of Appeals, the maternal grandparents’ claim of access was allowed. The parents of the child had been divorced since 1972. By the terms of 10 O.S.1971 § 5, parents of divorced parents were not granted visitation privileges. The court thus applied 10 O.S.Supp.1975 § 5 to allow these grandparents’ claim, although it was in existence when the statute came to be enacted.
IV
THE CHILD’S BEST INTEREST
The phrase “best interest of the child” is commonly used by the legislature and this court as a test for granting or withholding visitation.29 The parental interest is subordinate to the child’s best interest.30 Grand-parental visitation represents a wholesome contribution to a child’s welfare. It is not granted solely for the benefit of the adult participant.31 The grandparents here are the child’s deceased mother’s parents. The importance of a continued relationship with them is perhaps more significant now than while the mother was living.
Court supervision over the welfare of children is equitable in character.32 The legislature has never statutorily declared a grandparent’s access to the grandchild to be nonactionable. All impediments to the cognizance of a grandparent’s claim have been self-imposed. , Equity recognizes — independent of statute — the grandparents’ claim to the companionship of their grandchild. Quite often it is an important source of stability and calm in the child’s environment.33
We hold that the maternal grandparents do have standing — both under the statute and in equity — to assert a claim for access and companionship of their offspring.
The trial court’s refusal to entertain the claim is reversed; the cause is remanded with directions to allow the grandparents to prosecute their quest for visitation. The merits of their claim are to be gauged by application of time-honored equitable considerations.
DOOLIN, V.C.J., and HODGES, LAVENDER, HARGRAVE, WILSON, KAU-GER and SUMMERS, JJ., concur.
SIMMS, C.J., dissents.