Recently a child I been taking care of for 3 months has been taken buy child services. What do I need to do to gain custody to get him back?

File a motion in the Family Court for your county of residence. You may want to consider enlisting the services of an attorney. Be prepared to present evidence showing why it'd be in the child's best interests to remain with you.

File a motion in the Family Court for your county of residence. You may want to consider enlisting the services of an attorney. Be prepared to present evidence showing why it'd be in the child's best interests to remain with you.


Its possible to do it with out the Attorny? I Believe I have a good Chance. The Temp foster home he is at now has no running hot water and no heat. .

Its possible to do it with out the Attorny? I Believe I have a good Chance. The Temp foster home he is at now has no runing hot water and no heat. .You could conceivably do it without an attorney. But having an attorney makes things a whole lot easier. How the heck did a foster "home" without running hot water or heat ever qualify for placement of a juvenile ward of the state?

What is the situation here? Are you a foster parent? How is this child connected to you? How do you know about the foster home?

You could conceivably do it without an attorney. But having an attorney makes things a whole lot easier. How the heck did a foster "home" without running hot water or heat ever qualify for placement of a juvenile ward of the state?


Because this city is ran by morons. Thanks for the info I shall call the family court tomarrow.

It amazes me what CPS gets away with. I see them taking kids off parents and then putting them somewhere worse. You can have a kid taken off you for not having heat and hot water but then they will PLACE them in a place with no heat and hot water.
It makes me sick what they get away with and they appear to be above the law so it is hard fighting them. You need to fight it but from my experience it is hard.
Go to a local news station if you can't get anywhere with a lawyer.

What is the situation here? Are you a foster parent? How is this child connected to you? How do you know about the foster home?


I have Know the kid for about 3 years. I dated his mother. Ever sense we broke up about a year ago I just been around as the one person the kid ever talked to about his problems. As for Recent I Have lived with him for 6 months and been taking care of him for 3 months while his mother was off in Drug land. Recently She got busted and arrested sense then I been the person taking care of him. Then CPS shows up.

I was told that if the parent leaves him with me that should be good enough. What's the truth in that. Obviously they don't look in how the child will take the sudden changes.

And I can't afford an Lawyer atm Because of some Medical bills. But I got proof that the place he is at is bad for him. And He even told me he wants to live with me. Won't that help in court if he tells them?

The trouble is you have no legal standing, so I doubt you will get the child back at this time, since there is no legal reason for you to have the child. If you report the foster home, most likely they will change homes.

You may need to get registered as a foster parent, and see about getting the child back that way. The boyfriend ( non related to the child) does not have any legal guardianship rights even to file a motion to them for the child.

If the mother is out of rehab she can file for the kids back. You would have needed some legal form of temp custody from the mother

The trouble is you have no legal standing, so I doubt you will get the child back at this time, since there is no legal reason for you to have the child. If you report the foster home, most likely they will change homes.

You may need to get registered as a foster parent, and see about getting the child back that way. The boyfriend ( non related to the child) does not have any legal guardianship rights even to file a motion to them for the child.

If the mother is out of rehab she can file for the kids back. You would ahve needed some legal form of temp custody from the mother


How would I get temp custody If the mothers in jail? Last I heard She didn't get visitation yet. The more I Think about this the more confused I get...

Talk to the court about assigning the child a guardian ad litum or a child advocate (whatever it is called in your jurisdiction where the court assigns a child a lawyer)... work with the court and not against it. Courts like to see people who children know stepping up and stepping in. Go to the court and let them know who you are. Ask them what you should do to help facilitate the child coming back. See to it that the child gets a lawyer and work with that lawyer.

You should see Legal Services or Legal Aid in your city about getting a lawyer for you... if they don't have anyone they might work with a large law firm who will take on a pro bono case. You need to have a lawyer and you need to let the child's lawyer know you exist.

Contact CPS (Child Protective Services) and explain the situation. It's possible they don't truly know about you / your involvement with the child.

They will likely ask you to get a foster care license. There is a process in doing that, but there is no cost to you. They will come into your home and do an inspection - telling you what they need to see... We just received our foster care license (YAY!) and it's specific to our grandson. This was our experience :

Foster care person came in with paperwork - signing all kinds of things and telling us what they expect to see in the home when she came back to do the inspection... where the child sleeps, smoke alarms in all bedrooms, a fire escape route posted on the fridge, a list of phone numbers (emergency, fire, police, relatives, etc) posted on the fridge, and general cleanliness. Gave us a packet to fill out - quite extensive actually... asking questions about ourselves, our siblings, parents, our children, our discipline, our income and bills, among other things. We had to go through classes they provide, they do a background check and take fingerprints.

We had placement of our grandson and were receiving Kinship Care (a small alotment to help with expenses, medical, and day care), we are in the process of eventually adopting him... in April we go to court where the CPS worker will give the DA the request for termination of parental rights (TPR), once that is done - the length of time that will take is depending if the parents fight it or not - we will go through the process of adopting him.

Yes - it is a process, but worth every step.

Good luck to you!!