My daughter has been determined unfit, and the biological father of my grandchildren has been in and out of jail for drugs (even though he is yet again going to therapy). There is also a chance that DNA testing for parentage coming back that he is not the father of the youngest grandchild. His sister has temporary custody of the babies. I have hired an attorney and am seeking sole custody of the grandchildren. Social workers said that they were placing the babies with the sister because she lives in the same state (KY), and I live across state lines (IN). Even being in different states, we are close in proximity, only 40 miles apart. Rather than take the custody case to juvenile court where the whole issue has been heard thus far, my attorney and I are filing the custody petition in circuit court instead.

I do know that just because I am the biological grandmother, it does not give me "exclusive" rights to custody of the babies, but do I have any kind of edgein this case? Both the sister and myself are financially capable of providing for the babies.

Any advice is appreciated!

I would do whatever it is that your Attorney advises. She is certainly more familiar with the law in both States as well as the other considerations than we are.

Where are the children now?

The children were recently removed from my daughter in mid June (last month), placed in foster care for approx one week back in Kentucky while they made arrangements for the father's sister to take temporary custody of them. She has only had the children approx three weeks.

I am following all the advice of my attorney. Of course! He is practicing in Kentucky as well.

I don't know for certain that the father's sister is seeking full custody or not. I believe her and the father of my grandchildren are waiting for him to complete another drug treatment program. I cannot say for sure these are there plans or not.

I was unhappy that social services in Kentucky did not even consider me as temporary or emergency custody when they removed the children from my duahgter. Let me state that there was a case of abuse by my daughter's boyfriend in March. I told the Social Worker that if anything happened and they deemed it necessary to remove those babies, I WANT THEM! She said it would be difficult to place them with me because I live in Indiana even though the county in which I live and the county in which this case is, are neighboring counties (but it is across the state line). We had been in contact regularly up until the children were removed. Then all contact stopped abruptly. I made several attempts every day since the children were removed to contact the Social Worker, but she suddenly would not even return my calls.

I am in regular contact with the aunt (the biological father's sister) and see the girls regularly. I am even going to be keeping them three to four days a week starting next week.

As I said, she was granted temporary custody, but that does not mean SOLE PERMANENT custody. I am seeking sole permanent custody. My attorney said he recalls a case where a child was placed with someone in "temporary custody", and the child stayed with those people until after graduating high school, but this is different because we are challenging the "temporary" with "permanent" custody.

I realize I left out an important part of this for you: The abuse happened in Kentucky. The boyfriend then left and went to Tennessee. My daughter eventually followed him, taking the girls with her. She was not supposed to allow the boyfriend around the babies anymore. But because she ran to Tennessee with the girls and was living with him, they removed the babies, brought them back to Kentucky and then placed them with the biological father's sister, whom now has the temporary custody. I had already intended to seek the permanent custody of them, and the sister isn't aware of it yet (no one is, on the advice of my attorney)

Here's the problem you have. It doesn't matter whether you live 40 miles away, 400 miles away or 40' away. The fact that you reside in a different state means there are jurisdictional issues. I doubt if KY Social Services had the right to place the children out of state when there is a state resident willing to take them.

So you will have to fight that aspect. I don't know whether filing in circuit court will work for you or backfire.

But you have your attorney, the attorney has devised their strategy. So you will just have to play it through and hope. Keep us posted.

Yes, I understand the fact that I could be even 40 feet across the state line and well, a different state means KY would lose jurisdiction. The thing is, I am not fighting KY for custody. I am going head to head with my daughter and the father for custody. That is why my atty is filing in Circuit Court (to keep it out of Juvenile Court). He said basically it is the same as parent's being in a custody battle, and one parent that had moved across the state line. I am stepping up as a grandparent and seeking custody to keep these babies safe, secure, and prevent them from being bounced around between my daughter, the father, the aunt, and foster care. They NEED something stable and consistent. That is our main argument we will present to the court... and of course, all else follows (such as parentage, drug use, abuse).

I really appreciate the comments and viewpoints!

Also, the babies are not supposed to be allowed "across state lines", yet I have had them here since they were placed in temporary custody of the aunt. I am also going to be keeping the babies in my home in Indiana from Tuesday mornings until Thursday evenings. I will be documenting all our activities and things I notice about the girls, and taking lots of photos of them and us involved in activities (by advice of my attorney).

I just found out the biological father (the one that has the drug problem and is not supposed to be left alone with the babies) has been living there with his sister so that he can babysit the babies while she is working!

DNA results should be returned in about a month...

Wow - almost too complicated to follow. Did anyone ask how old the children are?

By the way, MORE people should stand up for children. You don't need praise from me - but my hat is off to you.

Sorry that it is confusing... I should have been more organized in my original post. :/

The girls will be 2 yrs old and 1 yr old in September (they are 10 days shy of being a full year apart!)

And thank you.