My Granddaughter was placed by CPS in our Home initially under the care of my Husband and I. Paternity was established a few weeks ago. My Son has been providing all of her care in everyway for two months, plus maintains a fulltime College schedule and works from 9:00pm-2:00am. For 19, it is clear that he is one million times more responsible than the Mother that our Granddaughter was taken away from. Initially CPS stance was that they would close the case once the Custody Hearing was agreed upon or heard. Now the CPS Case Worker (new one) keeps referring to my Son and us as relative Care and will not sign-off on the Custody trial until next Spring when the Mom which she was detained from is given, chance after chance after chance. Evidence such as Medical Records showing self inflicted pre-term labor and ultimtely pre-term birth due to not taking care of herself, Medical Records with daily details showing why the Hospital called CPS and refused to send her home from the Hospital with her Mother, Multiple instances of Perjury in Juvenile CPS court, inability to retain employment, no Transportation, dropped out of High School in the 10th grade, her own Fathers testimony that she is not capable, etc...

Why do they just slap a Relative Care label on the Biological Father that is providing and has proven that he is capable of providing all of her care, when the Hospital called CPS, they elected to detain from the birth mother and place in our home, mixed with a tone of additional evidence that could clearly win a sole custody case? Of course with liberal Visitation for the Mother.

Why is my Son, the Biological Father being ignored and labeled as Relative Care? Why are the CPS Court so closed minded with evidence (can’t get it heard for months) and could prove an incapability on the Mothers part and a proven capability on the Fathers part which would serve as the best interest of the child?

If we could just get a Trial date and the evidence heard?

Because the predliection of most people is that a child should be with its mother, especially a daughter. Its unfortunate that case workers don't look at the facts of each situation individually.

If you haven't engaged a lawyer, you should do so immediately and try and force the issue.

We have a very good Lawyer. It is in the State of Indiana which is a reunite the Child with the Mother at all cost (the cps death rate in this state is horrific). Our Lawyer is going to try and PUSH for a Trial date at our hearing this month. But these are nothing more the monthly CPS update Hearings that cost us a fortune and resolve nothing.

At minimum, she is going to push for presentation of the evidence and\or a temporary Legal Custody set-up with CPS overseeing the Supervised visitation that Mom is currently receiving and the tons of free resources that you and I pay for :-) I can tell you if we can just get the evidence heard and presented the CPS folks and the Mothers Attorney are going to be shocked as this is her own Father's testimony, multiple Hospital Staff Members, Hospital Case Worker. Daily charted Medical records and her very own MySpace page with pictures of drinking parties in which she is clearly in party mode.

What does it take to protect an innocent child in the CPS systems? I can tell you, Fathers rights are a mystical myth unless you are wealthy or dealing with the Black Widow...

I have a cousin who is going through a similar situation, only she's the mom, doing everything possible after a bit of bad decisions. CPS has had minor child in family care for nearly 6 months while mother does everything in her power to go above and beyond what CPS is demanding, and them continually putting more stuff in front of her, while the father has to do very minimal stuff, him also having made bad decisions in the past. (long story, not for here)
Anyhow, I finally got ahold of 3 of our state Representatives, and got them involved on the case. I don't know how it is where you live, but once the minor child is removed from parental care for more than 6 months, then CPS can extend it indefinitely, and thereby removing parental rights.
My advice to you... search online for your districts Reps, in your state congress, and contact them, contact your Ombudsman for children welfare. E-mail them with as much information as you feel necessary, then you should get a call back with in a few days.
To my astonishment, I got a call back within 8 hours of sending the e-mail. Of course you are in a different state, but I would be willing to bet that the Reps would be willing to get involved.
Good luck to you, your son, and especially your Grandchild.

NEVER expect CPS to do the right thing. You are lucky they placed with relatives at all. They get more money for foster care. First of all, they are required by law to make attempts to reunify the family so what they are doing is standard procedure. If your son has not petitioned the court for custody, then he is considered an outsider.
THAT is what he needs to do - petition the court for custody. Because he is providing all the care for this child, the court will listen to what he has to say. Everything needs to go through the court. He can do that now and should.

We made some progress at the last hearing. We had filed an Emergency Custody petition before the Baby was even released from the Neo-Natal unit and before the Hospital called CPS in fear of sending her home with the Mother. Due to backlog in our City, it was going to take three months to get the Emergency Custody heard.

Our Lawyer pushed the issue and the Judge granted a Custody hearing for January to try and get Custody into our Sons hands versus her current Relative Care label, Since she was detained from the Mother and not our Son. Needless to say, CPS was not very happy.

The only reason that she was placed in Relative Care with my Husband and I is because it took a couple of weeks to establish Paternity... BUT, my Son is her Primary Care giver across the board. He is doing the job of a Mother and the Father and for a 19 year old young man who is also maintaining a full-time College schedule and works night shift, he is DOING AN AMAZING JOB WITH HER... WISH US LUCK. MY SON'S ATTORNEY SEEMS TO THINK IT IS A WINNING CASE...

Thank you for coming back to let us know how it is going. Good luck in the future!