I want to adopt my 2 year old niece but she is living in Missouri and my fiancé and I live in Louisiana because of the military with our 2 boys- ages, 4 and 18 months. My sister and her boyfriend do not have a stable home environment (living at peoples houses or in the car) and my 2 year old niece lives with my sisters boysfriends aunt and uncle. The boyfriends name is on the birth certificate but is not the biological father and I plan to have a dna test done! The aunt and uncle talked my sister into signing over temporary rights to my niece to them. The "aunt" is on the road half the time driving trucks (and taking my niece with her which I believe is illegal) and the "uncle" has lung cancer and has had a heart attack before and they are both way to old to be raising a little girl. The temporary rights are over in June and they plan on adopting my niece. My sisters boyfriend has been fired from his job for smoking week and smoked weed in front of my 12 year old sister just the other day! My sister and the boyfriend have both been in jail numerous times for domestic violence with each other. What are my rights in this situation and do my fiancé and I have a solid case to win?

From what I can see adoptive parents have to be in a stable relationship for over a year - and that means marriage according to the laws of the State.

Have you thought about guardianship?

Unfortunately you have no rights in this case. If the child is being abused then you must report the abuse and let the Court decide what is in the best interest of the child, whether you can adopt.

We have more of a stable environment that these people that are not even related to my niece! We have more room in our house, they have her crib in the kitchen! They are well in their 60s and are not physically in shape to be caring for a 2 year old. We have not had the chance to get married because of deployments. We have been together 6 years with 2 very happy and healthy boys! Can I adopt her on my own as a single parent? I will do whatever I have to do to fight this.

Get a GOOD lawyer--you'll need one.

Adoption is a tricky thing. Getting guardianship for now might be easier. To adopt, you would either need to PROVE that the child's parents are unfit, or get their permission to adopt her. As adoption is FOREVER, and this is explained to birthparents, most don't just blithely sign the papers put in front of them.

Consult a lawyer on this--it's way too tricky to guess how this would fall out in court.