Legal Question in Family Law in Texas

Re: Temporary custody/non-family member mother wants child back

If the papers you signed were for custody, you may be able to get the child back. If you want to assert your emotional condition, you would likely need a psychologist or expert to support your contention. If there is no adoption, a court would likely order visitation. This could get to be an expensive proposition for both sides.

Re: Temporary custody/non-family member mother wants child back

There are a lot of issues here and not enough information. I assume that the child and the stepgrandmother (?) live in Ohio and that the original order was issued in Ohio. If so, you will be subject to Ohio law and you need to talk to an attorney from there. If they live in Texas or the order was written in Texas, you need a Texas attorney. Regardless, this is a very complicated case and you need legal advice.

Next, do you have a copy of the order? The actual wording in that will mean a great deal and will (hopefully) define your rights and responsibilities. It should be on file at the courthouse where it was entered.

Next, what happened to the birth mother, and what is her status and relationship to all of this? Were her rights terminated? Does she have any right of possession?

In TEXAS (Ohio may or may not be the same), the step grandmother cannot adopt unless your rights are terminated so I will assume that they were not. It is very difficult to involuntarily terminate a person's parental rights.

Finally, the issue of mental competence always makes a case unfortunately expensive due to the need to hire expert witnesses. Also, since eight years have transpired, you are unlikely to change the current order. You may need to prove, however, that any mental disability is over in order to obtain custody.

Good luck.