Q: my mom has had custody of nephews for over a year. can my sister get them back
my mother has had custody for over a year. the oldest boy was in foster care and we got him out and the youngest my mom got custody as soon as he was born. my sister has not seen the oldest since he was nine months and he's now 2 and the youngest she has never seen. there is a no contact order against her and she does not support them financially or emotionally. me and my parents do. I don't think its fair that she could get them back when she hasn't tried to do anything in the past year and a half to get them or see them or even support them. do we have a chance of keeping them or are we going to lose them because she lives in a different state and she keeps threatening us that she will be taking custody and moving back to Virginia and we are never going to see them again. those are my babies and I don't want to lose them not when im helping raise them. they call my parents mom and dad. we show her picture to the oldest and he doesn't know who she is.
A: The courts want to reunite children with parents, but the facts of your case may allow you to keep the children. These cases are very fact specific and it depends on what efforts the mom would make to rehabilitate herself as the mother of the children. The test the courts use is "the best interest of the child(ren)". The mom would have to prove herself over a rather long period of time to be the better custodian - which she might not be capable of doing.
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