Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
My son moved in with his girlfriend and her two boys age 11 & 12, now 12 & 13. Both children are dangerous, has no respect for anyone. Her mobile home they lived in had no heat, used old small electric heaters and had no smoke or fire alarms. It was very cold in that home. They had mold in areas from roof leak along with areas of floor problems. She kept having trouble with her stove and oven so she couldn't use them and someone came out after a year 1/2 and found out the problem was in the wiring under the mobile home. Someone added wire and did not do it correctly. They man said it was a fire waiting to happen ! She got pregnant and she didn't see a Doctor until 6 months of pregnancy. The only income she had was a small amount of child support from her ex husband. My son made very little income and didn't work steady. When the baby was born he did not go back to work. I made her get on food stamps because they never had food in the house.
The baby was born early with very low sugar, fluid in the lungs and could not suck well. They took the baby home after 15 days in NICU he stayed there one night and has been with me the rest of the time. They have had little contact with the baby and now expecting another child. My sons Bio Father, Step Mother My husband and myself worked on getting them out of that mobile home and into one of the Bio Fathers rentals on Jan. 5,2015. Doing this so they would be safe and can take the baby home. Now that she is pregnant again she keeps saying she wants to get the baby from me and take him home. What actions can I take to keep her from getting him? It has been to long and he only knows my husband and myself as his family. It is in the best interest that the baby stay with us. Please advise what options I have. This is a short version but I think you get the picture.
3 Answers from Attorneys
Contact DCF and request assistance. Probably the best you can hope for is short term relative placement (Ask DCF worker what that means) DCF policy is to try and reunite the parents and children regardless of what type of hell hole that puts the kids.
Obviously your son is not married to the mother of his child. He needs to file a "Putative Father Registry" first. This way no one else can adopt this child without contact with him. If you wish to have guardianship over the child or adopt the child, you will need to terminate her parental rights. It does not look like this is something that she wants to do. You can ask your son if this is something that he wants to do and perhaps persuade her to look at the situation and see what is best for the child. You can have an open adoption so that she still has contact with the child. There are many options outside of DCF - speak to a family lawyer.
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