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I Had A Baby And My Baby Daddy Now Has Custody Of My Son But…
I had a baby at 16 and my baby daddy’s parents now got custody of my son. I’m in a place where I can fully support him and would like to. Is that even possible?
You don’t say how long your son has been with his grandparents, but I’m going to assume a) the child was an infant when they got him, b) it’s been at least a couple years, and c) the grandparents have LEGAL custody of your son.
You can certainly APPLY for custody of your child. BUT…
- You will need to be able to PROVE that it’s in your son’s best interests to be with you rather than where he is. Being the biological parent gives you a basic “right” in this area, but judges tend to be reluctant to uproot a young child from a stable home environment without a REALLY good reason. Unless, of course, you had an arrangement with the grandparents that specified their custody was only until you or the baby daddy were able to take the child back.
- Do you currently have an ongoing relationship with the child? This is vital. No competent judge is going to rip a child from a stable, loving home environment and hand him over to someone who is, in essence, a total stranger. If you don’t already have a relationship with the child, you need to GET one. You need to work with the grandparents on visitation. If they’re reluctant to allow that, then petition the court for THAT before you try for custody. You have a far better chance of getting visitation than custody straight out of the chute. Once you have visitation, you can work on getting custody.
- Keep in mind that even if you get custody, the grandparents will likely be awarded visitation, as they have raised the child for X years. That gives them a close, personal bond with him, and a competent judge will likely rule that cutting them out of his life would be detrimental to your son.
