My sister who is a drug addict ad her boyfriend who is in jail, recently had my nephew. She already lost custody of her two girls to my mother and I just found out that once my nephew is released from the hospital(drug withdraw) he will be placed in foster care. We currently live in North Carolina due to my husband being active duty military. They live in New York, what should I do in order to get custody of my nephew?q

I would first go in person to your local courthouse at mid week and around 2 pm or so and ask for advice (if the clerk is busy, hungry, or tired, she or he might not be helpful, so be nice. I'd even bring a cupcake or something.) Bring a list of facts with you.

You may be told that you need to hire a lawyer, but given the severity of the status of the situation, you might be able to at least cut some time off the work involved. What state does your mother live in? How likely are you to be in NC for another year?

It appears that the nephew (a newborn baby, evidently) is in New York. OP should contact the social worker in New York who is assigned to the case.

I agree with AK. If the child is in New York then the contact will have to be made through them. The first step is to not rely on hearsay and find out exactly what the status of the child really is.

I'll vote with contacting the case worker in NY. How did you find out about your nephew? Generally social services will try to place a child with family. So they will likely advise you what steps you have to take.