My sister and her husband have hit on hard times. They are receiving government food stamps. They are in the process of separating. My niece is living with her dad at his mom's house. An incident occurred while at his mother's that caused my niece to go to the hospital. DFAC has been investigating both my sister and her husband. Both took a drug test at the hospital and both tested positive for marijuana. I do not want my niece with her Dad's family. How can I petition to be able to have her stay with me until my sister gets her act together. I can provide a good, healthy, stable environment for her to live in. Please tell me where to start.

You could get either temporary custody or you could go for guardianship. See a good family law attorney to see which would be the right thing in your case to do.

Talk to the DFAC case worker. Let them know you are willing to foster your niece until her parents can get their act together.

It shouldn't be necessary to go to court for custody. It is unlikely a court will grant you custody unless DFAC removes the child from them. And if that happens then can probably place her with you without a court battle.

I will say that "what happened" to cause the injury is about the only thing in the question that really matters. And unless both parents agree it will be hard.

1. being poor is not a reason to lose your kids
2. getting food stamps is almost a standard in GA
3. My kids were considered strange since they did not get a free breakfest at school. So Food stamps and government assistance mean nothing
4. parents getting divorce does not mean anything.
5. and yes POT is a drug, but one that is also not taken very seriously. So I doubt if merely using POT will get their kids taken away. The parent with custody may have to go to a AA program if they think it is serious enough.
But since the drug test did not show up anything worst, while not good, it is far from seriously bad.

Now what happened to have Children Services to investigate ? Was a child abused, neglected or what, the reason for the injury is the only maybe but in Georgia, Children's Service is very very slow in taking kids out of the home, and may require parenting classes, in home inspections for several months or more first

I am not saying you should not get custody, not saying that is not what may be best for the child, I am just telling you what normally ( in most cases) happen in Georgia.