Can My 17 Year Old Sister Choose to Live with Me Instead of Our Mother

My question involves juvenile law in the State of: Washington to Alaska

My sister wants to come and live with me in Alaska. I am 23 and married with a husband in the Air Force.
My sister right now lives with our mother who is an alcoholic and "past" meth user. She hasn't worked for 6 years and lives off the child support and welfare/housing she receives with my sister living with her.
I plan on flying my sister up to visit (which is ok with our mom) for a few months but she has already told me that she doesn't want to go back to Washington.
I'm worried about my mom not letting her go because of the benefits she receives with my sister under her roof.
I have the resources to take better care of my sister until shes out of school (which will probably be when shes 19-our mom doesn't make her go)

I don't want to be charged with kidnapping.
I'm not sure what to do or where to start.

You would need to go to court and apply for guardianship.

How long until she turns 18?

a year until she turns 18

You must return the child to her parent after the agreed upon visit.

UNLESS you apply (and are granted) emergency guardianship based on unsafe conditions at home. Attending school without guardianship will be a total nightmare if possible at all. Not getting along with your parent is not grounds to leave home. Talk to mom, and ask if you can become her POA for a year, don't just do it. It's always possible that you may be able to work WITH mom, with a private personal agreement as to the financial arrangements. Without the c/s, are you able to provide for sis?

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Quoting mamabear2102003

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UNLESS you apply (and are granted) emergency guardianship based on unsafe conditions at home.

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Which would need to be filed in Washington.....

I'm sorry mamabear, you are WAYYYY off base. Where is this child's FATHER? The child's father would be primary in a change of custody BEFORE any sister would be. Further, do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to yank a child out of the custody of one's legal parent to go to an uninvolved third party? Have you ever been through it? Have you ever seen it done? What exactly IS your experience in the matter?

(And not least in WA state. You know, home of Troxel and perhaps the least third-party friendly state in the nation...after Florida...)

Our father gave up his parental rights 10 years ago. Hes in the picture some what but cant care for my sis as a heavy drinker living in a one room trailer. things will not change for him to be able to provide for her.
I, on the other hand live on a military base with my husband and 1yr old son in a 3 bedroom house. we make more than enough money to provide for her as well (w/o C/s).
Plan A is working things out with our mother. But addicts will do anything to keep getting money for thier drugs and i wanted to be aware of the options becasue of this.

I have a good idea on what i can do now thanks to you all.

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Quoting CourtClerk

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Which would need to be filed in Washington.....

I'm sorry mamabear, you are WAYYYY off base. Where is this child's FATHER? The child's father would be primary in a change of custody BEFORE any sister would be. Further, do you have ANY IDEA how hard it is to yank a child out of the custody of one's legal parent to go to an uninvolved third party? Have you ever been through it? Have you ever seen it done? What exactly IS your experience in the matter?

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I wasn't trying to imply anything, but took from the OP that apparently dad wasn't involved and she (the OP) was trying to move forward without moms permission. My sister was just told to apply for emergency guardianship of her grandchildren (I may be wrong, but wouldn't this be the same type of uninvolved party? If not, my apologies). Yes, I do realize the difficulties of taking a child from a legal parent, which is why I told her to work WITH mom in this situation. As for the filing in WA state, I wasn't aware of that, since in the most recent situation that my sister is in, they told her to file here (mi) although the children/parents residence is in co (the children are currently with her in mi). Didn't mean to offend or mislead.

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Quoting mamabear2102003

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I wasn't trying to imply anything, but took from the OP that apparently dad wasn't involved

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Here's a clue about involvement. First post:

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She hasn't worked for 6 years and lives off the child support and welfare/housing she receives with my sister living with her.

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If dad is paying support, dad is involved. If dad is paying support, dad is the legal father of this child, therefore, dad has rights and has a say in where his child is living.

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and she (the OP) was trying to move forward without moms permission. My sister was just told to apply for emergency guardianship of her grandchildren (I may be wrong, but wouldn't this be the same type of uninvolved party?

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UCCJEA. Google it and commit it to memory. You may find your sister will have an issue as well.

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Quoting CourtClerk

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Here's a clue about involvement. First post:

If dad is paying support, dad is involved. If dad is paying support, dad is the legal father of this child, therefore, dad has rights and has a say in where his child is living.

UCCJEA. Google it and commit it to memory. You may find your sister will have an issue as well.

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Thanks CC. Can you give me a clue what UCCJEA stands for, or do I just google it like that?

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Quoting mamabear2102003

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Thanks CC. Can you give me a clue what UCCJEA stands for, or do I just google it like that?

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You google it just like that... however, it stands for:
Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction And Enforcement Act

You may want to stick with giving advise you actually know anything about. You wouldn't want to mislead people based on what someone told your sister, or what you think you heard or what you think you know... especially when all but I believe 2 states and Puerto Rico have adopted UCCJEA.

At the risk of nasty treatment, I'll just point out that if a child is in danger and in need of immediate protection any state can issue an emergency order. If I believed a child would be put in danger by returning him/her to an alcoholic drug addicted parent, I would seriously consider requesting such an emergency order. While it may not stand ultimately if the parent chooses to fight it, it can buy time in the interest of protecting a minor child.

But honestly, there's no need for nasty sniping when people are trying to help someone with a legitimate concern about the safety of a child.

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Quoting Bubba Jimmy

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At the risk of nasty treatment, I'll just point out that if a child is in danger and in need of immediate protection any state can issue an emergency order. If I believed a child would be put in danger by returning him/her to an alcoholic drug addicted parent, I would seriously consider requesting such an emergency order. While it may not stand ultimately if the parent chooses to fight it, it can buy time in the interest of protecting a minor child.

But honestly, there's no need for nasty sniping when people are trying to help someone with a legitimate concern about the safety of a child.

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I must have missed the part where the child was in imminent danger, which would be required to be shown to file outside of proper jurisdiction. Perhaps you can point that out to me. Being a "past" drug user and an alcoholic has been PROVEN time and time again not to be a reason to have custody taken away from a parent. This includes, marijuana usage. Where is the emergency in the "emergency order" that you suggest because one of the key components to receiving an emergency order would be a true emergency.

"I don't want to live here" or "I think I can do better" have yet to become an emergency is any of the 50 states or District of Columbia.

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Quoting CourtClerk

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I must have missed the part where the child was in imminent danger, which would be required to be shown to file outside of proper jurisdiction. Perhaps you can point that out to me. Being a "past" drug user and an alcoholic has been PROVEN time and time again not to be a reason to have custody taken away from a parent. This includes, marijuana usage. Where is the emergency in the "emergency order" that you suggest because one of the key components to receiving an emergency order would be a true emergency.

"I don't want to live here" or "I think I can do better" have yet to become an emergency is any of the 50 states or District of Columbia.

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And once again.... we seem to have forgotten about this child's FATHER.

You are certainly entitled to your opinion. Not sure why you take the tone you take, though. But again, it's your choice.

There is no such thing as a "former" addict, and I take the quotation marks around "past" to mean that there is a strong suspicion that it may not be in the past, but may be a current ongoing addiction. That changes the character of the situation for me. Anyone who knows anything about alcoholism knows that it is detrimental to the wellbeing of a child, and if a parent is currently engaged in the abuse of methamphetamine there is no question that it is not a fit environment for a child. But judges figure these things out, not people on message boards. The OP would be far better served by getting help in her own state and not take the bizzarre advice thrown about on a message board when the stakes are so very high.