questions & answers

Question: Yes my wife has had custody of her niece since she was 6 months old her niece now is almost 7 years old the biological mother is now starting to show up in the picture but only reason why she is the picture is because she has had another baby in the last 3 months cps was involved because she was dirty with meth i just wanna know what rights does my wife have because the biological n the grandmother have been arguing with my wife bout taking the 7 year old back but the 7 year old know as mom n dad

Answer: If your wife has "custody" because a court ordered it, then the parent has to go to court to get it back. If your wife has simply been raising the child under guardianship or as a foster, then she needs to work with CPS to determine how to get permanent custody. Courts give a lot of weight to parents, but if CPS believes the child should be with someone other than the parent, then they should be able to help you in that direction. If there has been no official order for guardianship or foster, then you can petition for permanent guardianship. Here is a link to another az law help question that provides the laws http://www.azlawhelp.org/viewquestions.cfm?sc=6&mc=1&qid=12664 and a link to Maricopa county papers (if you are not in Maricopa County, then look up guardianship for your county). You can petition for emergency guardianship while the petition for permanent is being considered https://www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov/sscDocs/packets/JGT1.PDF