How Can a Grandparent Get Custody of a Baby

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Indiana

My 24 year old son and his girlfriend had a baby boy on February 12, 2013 and he was born drug addicted and alcohol addicted. My son smokes pot on a daily basis. They both have their own place, but the baby lives with me and my husband. Every time I try to take him back home she calls me and wants someone to get him. She stays up all night and parties and wants to sleep all day. She has two other children that have an open DCS case because she isn't suppose to have them but the children's father was in an accident which rendered him paralyzed. Everything that this baby has is because me and my husband has bought it. She leaves days upon end without telling anyone where she's at and my son hangs out with his friend and refuses to take the responsibility of his son. I am wandering how I get custody of this baby, because it's just a matter of time before she loses her other two children?

Are DCS involved with this baby?

No. Not yet. She has a DCS case with the 2 children that she does have due to her drug abuse and partying that she does. The father of her 2 children is going to ask the courts to remove the 2 girls

Then basically, you have nothing yet. Mom needs to be proven unfit.

Quote:

---

Quoting KCampbell

---

They both have their own place, but the baby lives with me and my husband.

---

Then you already have custody - what you are looking to do is formalize that custody. The problem with attempting to do so is that you may inspire the parent(s) to try to remove the child from your home. They may be more cooperative if they understand the practical aspects of placing a child with a non-parent - issues relating to school enrollment, medical insurance, and the like that are complicated and sometimes not possible without a formal guardianship order.

You can find what appears to be a pretty good guide to kinship care, here. From what you've written you're in the "informal" category. The guide describes the steps necessary to formalize the arrangement, and the pro's and con's of various forms of formal kinship care (guardianship, third party custody, in-family foster placement, as well as adoption).

Quote:

---

Quoting Kinship Care in Indiana

---

There are two different types of kinship care in Indiana, formal and informal.

Formal kinship care occurs as a result of a Court hearing called a Child in Need of Services (CHINS) adjudication that results with the child being placed with a relative or other adult who has a relationship with the family. A CHINS adjudication often occurs when there is some reason to believe that the child is abused or neglected and the Court needs to be involved to protect the child and ensure that the child is receiving appropriate treatment or care. This begin s with a petition filed by DCS. The importance here is that this form of kinship care only begins after a formal ruling by a Court , naming you or someone you know as the child’s caregiver.

Informal kinship care occurs when an individual cares for a child not his or her own without a ruling from the Court appointing the individual as the child’s caregiver. In informal kinship care, the caregiver may have initially believed that he or she would be caring for the child for only a short time. Yet for a variety of reasons, the parent(s) were unable or unwilling to resume care of the child. Although the kinship caregiver may provide the day to day care for the child, in the eyes of the law the parent is still in charge of the child. Most likely the caregiver has no legal rights or legal relationship to the child and cannot make legal decisions on the child’s behalf. Informal kinship caregivers may be able to apply for financial assista ce such as Hoosier Healthwise or TANF. Each governing agency for assistance has their own criteria to determine when they will and will not provide financial assistance.

---

This baby is not even 2 months old. With all due respect, they do not have custody. They're babysitting.

It appears that the grandparents aren't satisfied with leaving the child with the parent's choice of recipient.

When the parents say, "Take care of my kid" in an indefinite arrangement, whether we're talking one day later or a year later, it falls under the definition of informal kinship care.

Her two girls are being removed from her care on Friday because the police were at here house last week due to a fight that broke out over marijuana that she sold and the fact that her house is red flagged a DCS officer was there. She also left all three of her children for 4 days without any contact. So, I do believe that she has proven to the courts that she is unfit to care for her babies.

Quote:

---

Quoting KCampbell

---

Her two girls are being removed from her care on Friday because the police were at here house last week due to a fight that broke out over marijuana that she sold and the fact that her house is red flagged a DCS officer was there. She also left all three of her children for 4 days without any contact. So, I do believe that she has proven to the courts that she is unfit to care for her babies.

---

So in 3 days DCS went to court and got an order allowing the removal of the children? And they weren't able to remove them...Thursday? Really?

And you know this...how?

Quote:

---

Quoting KCampbell

---

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Indiana

My 24 year old son and his girlfriend had a baby boy on February 12, 2013 and he was born drug addicted and alcohol addicted. My son smokes pot on a daily basis. They both have their own place, but the baby lives with me and my husband. Every time I try to take him back home she calls me and wants someone to get him. She stays up all night and parties and wants to sleep all day. She has two other children that have an open DCS case because she isn't suppose to have them but the children's father was in an accident which rendered him paralyzed. Everything that this baby has is because me and my husband has bought it. She leaves days upon end without telling anyone where she's at and my son hangs out with his friend and refuses to take the responsibility of his son. I am wandering how I get custody of this baby, because it's just a matter of time before she loses her other two children?

---

Grandma, if your grandchild was born drug addicted and alcohol addicted in Indiana, then CPS absolutely would have been brought in by the hospital prior to the mother being allowed to leave with the child....in fact, its almost guaranteed that the mother would not have been allowed to leave the hospital with the child. The child would have been taken into CPS custody at least until the parents jumped through some serious hoops.

Therefore, I find it hard to believe that there is an official diagnosis that the child was born drug and alcohol addicted. Are there facts that you are leaving out?