My step daughter is 12 years old and her mother has custody of her. In this time, she has been in and out of foster homes and under constant cps supervision. My husband and I only recently were able to track them down and get back into her life. My step daughter was spending weekends with us and was always polite and loving. She informed me of the abuse and neglect she had suffered in the foster homes and at the hands of her own mother and her exes. She asked if she could come to live with us. Her mother got tired of her daughter asking her to take care of her the way my husband and I do. She refused to put food in the house for her daughter, clean the house, or cook for her. When my step daughter asked if she could spend this weekend with us, her mother had her put in a mental hospital. This poor girl is terrified and there are no underlying mental problems. Please help me find a way to get her out of there and at home with us where she will taken care of and loved.

Your husband simply needs to petition the court for primary custody. There is not magic solution to this. You need to get a good attorney.

CPS always claims they try to place kids with family members so as A K said petition the court

Have you spoken to the caseworker? Generally CPS prefers to place children with family. So I don't understand how a) she could be placed on foster homes without her father's consent or b) how should could be committed to a mental hospital on just her mother's say so. I think there is a lot more to this story then you are telling us.

In any case, that's where I would start, with the caseworker. There really shouldn't be a problem with the agency assigning temporary custody to the father pending a modification of the custody order.

First be careful, children who have been in the system for a long time, know how to work it.

Next YOU don't, you have no legal rights in this, your husband has to do all the work.
He hires an attorney, and petition the courts for custody.

Also few foster homes are abusive, so if the child is telling you all of them are, I am sorry she is lying to get attention, and to make you feel sorry for her, this is actually common for children in foster care, who learn hot to get people to do what they want.

Also child should know CPS phone number, if she is not feed, she merely calls, them and reports