Custody & Kidnapping

Although I cannot speak to your particular situation, one factor that often comes into play when one biological parent wants to give custody to a non-parent is whether the other biological parent would object. Parents generally have the first right to custody over grandparents or other relatives. If the father disagrees, a non-parent may have to prove that the father is unfit in order to win custody away from him. I cannot speak to your particular situation, however, and so you may want to consult with a lawyer for advice.

If the father agrees for the non-parent to have custody or if there is not father who has legally established his paternity (legal fatherhood), perhaps the situation may be different. (Generally, paternity may have been established if the parents were married at the time of birth, if the father signed an acknowledgment at the hospital, or if there is a child support order against him, etc - I cannot speak to the specifics in your state.) If this is the case with you where the father may consent or there is no legal father, you may want to ask a lawyer if it may be more easy to ask a judge to give the non-parent custody without proving the father unfit.

Also, a lawyer can tell you the process by which to start this type of custody transfer - you can ask a lawyer if your parents would file for custody in court and you would consent to it and then the case would be against the father.

Also, you may want to explore other options with the attorney such as asking if a temporary guardianship may leave the possibility open of getting custody back more easily and whether this still involves proving the father unfit - I do not know. Again, I don’t know if this is an option in [STATE] but an attorney in your state would know. Here is a link for free and paid lawyers:LINK. Here too is info on custody in STATE: LINK