guardianship/adoption

[khayes1970]

Okay, this will be hard to follow, so bear with me. My neice is currently 6 months pregnant. She had her other children temporarily removed from her custody because one child was inflicted with Shaken baby syndrome by his Father. My neice was not at home at the time of the incident, and has not been charged with the crime.
The baby she is carrying, she would like to give me guardianship/ or adoption rights before the baby is born. A social worker is telling her that she has to have the baby stay within the state (I live in NY), she can't give up her baby, etc. Yet they are telling her that once this baby is born, he will be placed in a foster home. We are trying to prevent this. Any family close to my neice is too old to place custody with, all of them being over 60, I am the closest one to help her.
Does the local DCFS department have any legal rights over an unborn child if that child is not listed on any open case? Does she have the legal right to make decisions of her unborn child's welfare, and place custody with me while still pregnant? I realize DCFS may choose to step in once this baby is born, but what rights do we have? I want to fly to Illinois and file legal guardianship papers and bring the baby home with me. Do we have that right?
There is no documentation whatsoever where DCFS has taken rights to this baby, and my neice has not lost her parental rights to any of her children.

 

[irish223]

Okay, this will be hard to follow, so bear with me. My neice is currently 6 months pregnant. She had her other children temporarily removed from her custody because one child was inflicted with Shaken baby syndrome by his Father. My neice was not at home at the time of the incident, and has not been charged with the crime.
The baby she is carrying, she would like to give me guardianship/ or adoption rights before the baby is born. A social worker is telling her that she has to have the baby stay within the state (I live in NY), she can't give up her baby, etc. Yet they are telling her that once this baby is born, he will be placed in a foster home. We are trying to prevent this. Any family close to my neice is too old to place custody with, all of them being over 60, I am the closest one to help her.
Does the local DCFS department have any legal rights over an unborn child if that child is not listed on any open case? Does she have the legal right to make decisions of her unborn child's welfare, and place custody with me while still pregnant? I realize DCFS may choose to step in once this baby is born, but what rights do we have? I want to fly to Illinois and file legal guardianship papers and bring the baby home with me. Do we have that right?
There is no documentation whatsoever where DCFS has taken rights to this baby, and my neice has not lost her parental rights to any of her children.

A guardian may be appointed for an unborn child in Illinois; however, if her other children were removed from her care, DCFS is probably in the process of getting guardianship of the baby.

You can certainly try to file, but if you do, I suggest you retain an attorney. You may have to have approval from DCFS for placement.

 

[WhirledPeas]

You might consider starting the process to become an approved foster parent.