Grandparent Custody

[Kami]

Dear Soc,

Our grandkids are severely malnourished and underweight, and have been for most of their lives.  

BM has diagnosed mental illness for which she refuses therapy or medication.  

We have witnessed neglect, verbal and emotional abuse of kids, and seen suspicious bruising on them several times.

For many reasons, our son has decided not to fight for custody.  We are furious with him and think he�s wrong!

My husband and I have spent as much time with the kids as our son has from the time they were newborns, and provided daycare while he was at work.

Kids are 700 miles away from their dad and us.

1.  What are the chances that my husband and I could get custody?

Thanks!
Kami

[socrateaser]

>1.  What are the chances that my husband and I could get
>custody?

If you believe that the children are in severe distress or being abused, then call the State child protective service in the county where the children live and lodge a complaint. They will investigate. If the investigation shows credible evidence supporting your allegations, then you, or your son, can ask to intervene in the juvenile court proceeding and possibly be awarded custody/guardianship.

However, without some objective evidence to support your allegation that the children are in distress, you are not likely to get very far by petitioning for custody against the mother, because custodial parents are presumed to act in their child(ren)'s best interests, and you will have to show that this is not the case, before the court will go beyond a preliminary hearing.

Nevertheless, this is the sort of case that strongly argues for a local attorney's advice, so I suggest that you contact someone with experience in the county where the mother lives, so that you can get a better idea of how the local judges rule on this sort of issue. You may find that the courts in the county are very interested or not interested at all in hearing your case.

[Kami]

Thanks!  NM