I live in AZ and my friend and her husband are trying to find a way to gain custody of my friend's 4 year old nephew. The parents of the child have joint custody, father is the custodial parent. Father is now in trouble with the law and will likely go to jail/prison. The mother has only sporatically seen the boy in the last 2 years, only when the father would bring the child to her. The mother is 25 parties constantly and has 3 other children who are exposed to this all the time. She has a revolving door of people in her home, a lot of them underage kids that she provides alcohol to. Her other kids are unruly as they have no stability/boundaries/discipline. The kids are pretty much on their own as she is more involved with her boyfriends/parties. She has had CPS contact on a few occasions but they always come out to investigate during the day so they have not seen what is going on. My friend has a loving stable home and marriage. They have very well adjusted kids of their own and want to provide a stable home for the nephew. The mother gets more assistance by having him with her so she will not willingly give him up. Is there anything that can be done?

They cannot get custody unless they PROVE she is unfit or unless she agrees to the custody change.

This prevents people who don't approve of a lifestyle from taking other people's children away.

They can ask the father to appoint them as legal guardians. The mother would then have the opportunity to challenge this in court. Unless they can prove her unfit, there is a likelihood she will get custody.

I completely misread the question - Scott is 100% right.