[Spes]

I live in FL. My 3 yr. old grandson has lived with me for 9 months now. My daughter asked me to take care of him at first for financial reasons. She (single) could not support him. His father has never contributed and visited seldom (one every few months) and moved to California 4 months ago with no contact. My daughter was Baker Acted within 1 months of leaving the baby with me. She was only kept 24 hrs. She calls frequently, asks to see him weekly. Actually spend a couple of hours with him about twice per month but is becoming less often with 4 weeks gone by without seeing him. She often speaks of "getting him back". I am very concern about his welfare when he does see her. She does not show stability or good judgement. She has been Baker acted 3 times since his birth. What action, if any can I take?

[stinawords]

Well for starters get yourself a lawyer! Then go to court for custody your lawyer will help you get your case together with all the evidence you will need but at this point you seem to have a pretty strong case. You can then get support from both the mother and father. I have to say though that even though I think you will have a pretty good case I strongly recommend an attorney to help.

[Spes]

Thank You stinawords! I truly am not concerned with support. Of course it would help. But we will make be fine without monitary support. I am more concerned with his mental and health well being. He is not covered by health insurance and has asthma, must take meds daily. He will not get the meds if she decides to just take him.

[cadillac59]

By "Baker Acted" I assume you mean involuntarily confined for psychiatric observation for possibly being a danger to herself or others? (I'm in California and that's what we call a "5150").

It sounds like yours is an ideal case for a guardianship. Talk to an attorney about how this is done in Florida.

Just to give you an idea of how guardianships work in California, to be appointed guardian of a child (and you don't have to be a relative to be one) you have to show that parental custody would be detrimental to the well being of the child and that a guardianship is necessary to serve the child's best interests. The problem is you have an elevated standard of proof to get there - in other words you have to prove these factors by what is called "clear and convincing evidence" and detriment itself is kind of hard to establish as it is. (These procedural hurdles are in place to protect the rights of the parents to custody (which have US as well as state Constitutional underpinnings)). So at first blush, this is pretty tough and guardianships should be hard to get (and in some cases are). However, the good news is that if you've been what we call a "de facto parent", that is one who has assumed the day-to-day caretaking responsibilities for the child providing love, affection all that stuff that makes for good parenting, and if you've done this for a "substantial" period, you get a presumption that returning the child to the parent would be detrimental and that continuing the child in your care is necessary to serve the child's best interests (you have to prove de facto parent status by preponderance of the evidence- a lower standard than clear and convincing). The parent in such a case who objects to a guardianship then has the burden of showing by a preponderance of the evidence that it would not be detrimental for her to have custody and it is not necessary to serve the best interests of the child for the child to remain in the non-parent's custody.

So, to sum up, you sound like a de facto parent and I'd say 9 months is a substantial period for having assumed this role (considering the child is only 3) and you should be able to get a guardianship established even over objection of your daugther or the child's dad. At least this is how it would work here in the Golden State.

Again, check this, as well as anything you hear on this board, with a local attorney experienced in family law.