Niece Will Be Released to Me in Court While Father Stays Guardian and on Welfare

[Southrngurl]

My question involves guardianship in the State of: Connecticut
Here's a brief description of what is going on and I need to know what actions I should take and what my rights are. My 15 yo niece (my sister's child) has gotten into some trouble and has been in prison for 6 months while in her father's care. My sister, who lives in North Carolina, had my niece for the first 14 years of her life while never receiving ANY help from the father as he was abusive and didn't want anything to do with her. My niece ran away on multiple occassions and there were issues in North Carolina so as a last resort my sister sent my niece to live with her father who as soon as he couldn, he went for state assistance. He has numerous kids and on welfare already. While I didn't decide at that time to take on the responsibility as I've taken on many of my family issues in the past, after some soul searching I decided to step up and try to help as I'm one of the only positive people in her life and could provide a positive influence and foundation.

My niece's court appointed attorney and social worker are working to get my niece released to me and are also stating that they are going to keep the father as legal guardian, which the father is agreeing to and has stated he thinks it would be best as his "baby momma" of atleast 5 doesn't want to deal with her (besides the point but venting a bit). It was brought to my attention today that if he stays her guardian he can still collect state assistance even if she is living with me. Is this correct? And if so, is it temporary guardianship that I need to go for? What are my rights as I'm the one who is going to be responsible for her. I also heard I won't be able to enroll her in school or get her medical attention. AT NO POINT would I ask for money from ANYONE or entity as she is family however there is NO WAY I would allow him to get my tax dollars when he is not taking care of ANY of her livelyhood!!!

Please help!! I now feel like I need to protect MYSELF as I'm only hearing this as hear say so what else is there that I'm not aware of?????

[Mr. Knowitall]

You can communicate with the case worker or state agency issuing support over whether the father would continue to receive the aid - if they're none the wiser about the living arrangement I would certainly expect so - and whether you might qualify for assistance or child support while you care for your niece. We don't know why the case worker hasn't encouraged you to seek guardianship; perhaps the concern is that if you were to do so, dad would insist that the child return home and thus prevent her from getting the structure they hope she can receive from you.