SPARC Forums

My little granddaughter is 7 years old. The last time she saw her mom was on her birthday June 12, 2007, almost six months ago. We picked her up from the police station prior to that date due to Texas CPS taking the 3 children from the mom after alligations of abuse from the mom's boyfriend to the middle child, the 2 year old brother. The paternial grandparents currently have temporary custody of the two little boys, now 1year and 2 years old, whom have different fathers than Courtney, my granddaughter. My son, Courtney's father has temporary. custody of Courtney. The mom and her boyfriend have left the area to avoid arrest on child abuse charges. We are trying to find out the Texas Law as to when and how my son can gain permanant custody of Courtney and the steps to take to achieve this. Courtney is in the 2nd grade, has a lot of new friends and is happy, healthy, sees her little brothers and grandparents often.

Your son needs to contact CPS office to find out the status of the case. He will probably have to do this in person, fill out a form, show ID & maybe birth certificate. He should take any paperwork he has received from them and any temporary orders.

If the case is still open, he might ask them how to proceed. If the case is closed & it's been 6 months that the child has lived with him, he will need to file a SAPCR, asking for custody of his daughter.

The site I use is http://www.texaslawhelp.org/TX and under family law/Custody & Visitation is the Suit Affecting the Parent-Child Relationship (SACPR) section. It has all kinds of advice on how to go about this, I believe the hardest part for you will be notifying the mom.

This has info on how to file the paperwork to do this pro se, but a lawyer would probably not be a bad idea if you can afford it since CPS is involved.