A distant family member of mine is taking care of her grandchild. She has had him since the day he was born. The child's mother was diagnosed with postpartum psychosis. The mother has been in and out of prison, is abusing drugs etc. The problem is.. The child's grandmother has never had custody, she has just been taking care of him. Now the grandmother has been raising him for three years and for personal and health reasons would like to give the child up for adoption. My husband and I are trying to adopt him, we are working closely with the grandmother.. trying to see what the best way to go about this. Do we need to prove her unfit? How do we get custody from the mother to the grandmother so we can start the adoption.
Any answers appreciated.

The grandmother can't give up a child for adoption that she does not have custody of. She can turn the child over to CPS

If you want to adopt, you will need to contact the child's parents, mother and father and get them to agree to the adoption.

Proving her unfit does nothing, since legally the child is not suppose to be there to start with.