Legal Question in Family Law in Arkansas
non-parent wanting custody
Yesterday my roommate and her two children decided to leave and drive to Arkansas, from Virginia, where she plans to lives. The youngest child, who is 8 months old, has medical conditions that neeed to be taken care of immediately. However, she is not taking care of them. The baby has ceasures that he is required to take medication for. She always ''forgot'' to give him his medicine and when she left yeastrday, she didn't take it with her. She has also told my parents and I that she can not afford to take care of both children. The father wants nothing to do with them and never put his name on the youngest childs birth certificate. Any way, my question is, how can my parents and I got about obtaining custody of the youngest child? She has told us before that we could have him and we have expressed to her how much we would love to have him. Unfortunately, she is now in Arkansas and we need to know what to do before we go there to get him. If there is any way to do this immediately without spending a lot of money and without going through court and trials, it would be greatly appreciated.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: non-parent wanting custody
You ask if there is any way to get custody of this child immediately without spending a lot of money and without going through court and trials.
The answer is yes and no.
You cannot and should try to avoid going through court. However, if the child and mother lived in Virginia for six smonths before she took off for Arkansas, Virginia under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction anb Enforcement Act still has jurisdiction in the matter. You indicat that the mother is cooperative and it may be wise to get the child back to Virginia and file for custody once that happens. Depending on the facts this could be fast and cost a lot. You need to consult with an attorney who handles this type of matter to make sure you do it correctly. If you want to discuss this in a bit more depth, please feel free to call and speak with me. I may be able to point you in the right direction and if you need an attorey I may be willing to consider representing you or referring you to someone who could help at a reasonable rate.
Re: non-parent wanting custody
Unless you and your parents are biologically related to the child you have expressed an interest in, or, perhaps, have some relationship to the child through marriage of the mother to one of your relatives, I would completely forget about this idea of obtaining custody.(Roommate affiliations won't be sufficient.) For all you know, these children may now be with caring relatives in the state of Arkansas.
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