I am new here, I am hoping for a little support for a stressfull situation my family and I are in. A little history... I have a 21 y/o sister who is a single mother of a 20 month old boy. She is getting child support for the child, however the father has not had any contact with the baby. My sister or myself has contact with his mother so she can see her grandchild. Recently the child's father has moved back in with his paretns and has taken my sister to court for visitation rights, which he received. Four hours every Saturday, supervised by his mother or father. He is an alcoholic, he has been in and out of treatment centers, etc. He is 27. When they went to court for visitation, we also discovered he is suing her for sole custody. In the beginning I thought that's not possible. The more I thought about it the more afraid I have become. My sister is going to be making phone calls tomorrow and trying to obtain a lawyer. My question is, although it is a possibility on what grounds would he be able to take the baby from her?She lives on her own, she does receive help from the state. She has a job for a reputable company and has recently been promoted to a supervisor. What does she need to be aware of? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. My family and I are very upset with the possibility of this happening. With him wanting nothing to do with the baby for such a long time and now this?

Getting a lawyer is the first thing to do. Dad will be entitled to visitation, and the court will establish that, but he is making VERY idle threats about getting sole custody. If he only has supervised visits right now, there is more to th story. He isn't going to get sole custody

Many loser fathers threaten with the full custody bomb to scare (usually younger) mothers into thinking that if they allow the guy to stop paying support the father won't come take their baby away.

Unfortunately many women fall for this. On the flip side... a court is VERY unlikely to give sole custody to the other parent or even change what is existing unless there is VERY compelling reasons, which I have heard very few... usually with drugs or abuse involved on the part of the custodial parent.