My nephew...

[naomiorear]

Ok this is kind of a long and drawn out mess. My sister, who to put it lightly, has some emotional and stability problems, has a son who is 15 months old. She's NEVER been a good mother: she used to scream at him, calling him all sorts of awful names; would spank him HARD, at like 6 months old; totally neglected his hygeine, not giving him baths for days, almost weeks, at a time; did drugs while holding him in her arms; I could go on forever with this, but I think you get the point.

About 4 months ago CPS got involved because my sister flipped out. At this point my sister told CPS that they should give my nephew to her soon to be ex-husband. The case was pretty much dropped at that point due to some misunderstandings in the court system.

So now my brother-in-law has custody of my nephew and my sister has decided to fight him for custody. Neither one of them is what I would consider to be a "fit parent".

My brother-in-law is not my nephew's biological father, and is now having a child with his new girlfriend. My nephew is already second priority to them, and with this baby comming I'm afraid will be third in line. My nephew is ALWAYS filthy every time I see him, they ignore him most of the time, his "punishment" for being "bad" is being strapped into his car seat and locked in a dark bedroom for 10-20 minutes, and their house is a "safe" place for a child to be.

I know that being my nephews biological aunt gives me some rights to him if he were put into the system. My question is, at this point, can I fight both of them for custody, even though he's not considered to be a ward of the court? And if I do hold the right to fight for custody, what steps do I take? Do I have to wait to see what happens with their custody case first? Can I go ahead and file papers seperatly? I need to know what my rights are so that I can get my nephew out of this potentially harmful situation.

 

[Duranie]

If you want custody of the child, you need to to see an attorney but be advised, you are in for an uphill battle.

If the child is still not properly cared for, call CPS and again they can intervene. There is no guarantee though you will get the child, he probably will wind up in the foster care system which might not be such a bad thing since both his parents are idiots.

You need an attorney and you are going to have to prove Dad is totally unfit.

If the brother in law is not the boys bio father, is he the legal father? How did he get custody?

Do you know who the bio father is? I would suggest contacting them and having them file for a paternity test. The clock is ticking here. There usually is only a short window for paternity to be disproven, or proven.

Good luck and please make sure this baby is taken care of.

 

[naomiorear]

Well, I have plans to call CPS tomorrow, once I can get my head around everything that they need to know. And if he went into foster care, my mother would be the first to get him since she's a foster parent and his legal grandparent.

Legally my brother in law is the father because he married my sister when she was three monthspregnant and they were married when my nephew was born. He got custody because my sister told CPS to give my nephew to him.

I do know who the biological father is, however, he raped my sister so therefore he is not an option in this situation.

So really, after calling CPS, my only option is to contact a lawyer?

 

[Duranie]

In most states a child born in the marriage is the husbands legally, so the fact he is not the bio father doesn't matter. He is the childs legal dad.


I see no way to get custody without an attorney. There is alot of paperwork involved Maybe you and your mother can put your heads together to figure out if your mom wants to purse something. If she is a foster parent perhaps she can petition for custody.