jessicakelley
New Member
My niece was born when her mother was only 15. As soon as she was born, her mother went back to her pre-baby lifestyle of sleeping around and my mother and I have been raising said baby between us her whole life. Em lives with her mother because her mother lives with our mother. Em is constantly going back and forth between my and my mother's houses. I would like to see if I can get custody of her because her mother is now 19 and is expecting another child with a man who has admitted to hitting and leaving bruises on both my sister and Em and who is also very jealous of any time my sister spends with Em. This guy works 1-2 days a week for 3-4 hours a day making, on average, $40 a week. Her mother is not working and they are all depending on my mother. My sister and her boyfriend have little to no time to give to Em as they are so wrapped up in each other. They leave her in the main part of the house for hours at a time while they shower together and when he brings food home from work, they sit outside so that my sister can eat without being begged for the food. My mother has asked me if I would be able to take Em and my husband and I agreed that it would be no burden to us at all as she has already spent much of her time with us and calls us Mom and Daddy. We have 2 children of our own who love having Em over and we have a spare bedroom at our house that we decorated for Em when we first moved in. He and I both have steady incomes, our bills are always paid on time and there is always food on our dinner table. As of last week, after an argument with our mother, my sister and her boyfriend are wanting to move back to his hometown where they will have no home for a while or job opportunities and they are wanting to take my niece with them. Is there any way I could possibly get a lawyer who would side against the biological mother? Sorry for the long post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.