Legal Question in Family Law in Washington
What about the childs rights?
A family member "gave" her two children to my sister for $100. I now have the children in my home. I have had them for a year. The mother and father of 1 of the children are on drugs, living on the streets, no jobs. I have journals of theirs talking about a list of ilegal activities. The mother is on probation for drug realted charges, but is not fulfilling her obligations. I have been support for theses kids for one year. The parents now want them back, how can I legally keep them. They were living on the street when my sister got them. Do I have any rights? The paretns signed papers sying that I could have temporary custody and that they would do a number of things to provide for their kids. They have done nothing that they agreed to. Can I hold them to teh argreement, or am I breaking the law, and who cares about the kids?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: What about the childs rights?
You need to file a third-party custody petition. This will give you legal custody of the children. To obtain custody of children other than your own, you must establish that both parents are either unfit or that there is some other detriment to the child from being in a fit parent's custody. Based on the facts asserted in your question, the court would probably agree with you that these parents should not have custody of their children. A custody award under this statute is permanent. You can get the forms from the court clerk's office to pursue this on your own or retain an attorney to assist you.
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