stepparent adoption

I had a child in my care for three yrs. the mother was not intrested and the father was in jail. the mother died 6 months ago. a cousin of mother came and took child from me . I got fathers consent from jail for guardianship and went to probate court and got temp custudy of child. the cousin contested she is wealthy and had two lawyers and i had none I eventually withdrew my petition for guardianship (iwas missing work and almost lost house) the cousin agreed to unlimited visits with child ect. none of which is happening. I am now married to the father of this child and want to adopt this child but the father is in jail and the cousin has guardianship of him still can i adopt him ? the father never lost his rights and iwas approved by court investigator to have the child previously . i am also a lic.foster parent. i live in california near san francisco.

wow, that's a tough situation. usually the child's guardianship is given to the blood relatives before anything else unless there is a document staing otherwise. since teh mother passed away, it should be up to the father if he never lost his rights and he is the bio. father. therefore, i say it should be up to the father and i believe that you should have custody since you are technically the step parent and married to the father and since you've previously had custody. however, when the child gets a little older and the father is still in jail and you are still fighting the custody battle, children in this situation are able to choose who they would like to live with. good luck...

thanks for replying. the child already begs to come live with me now it is very sad. the father is getting out in three months so hopefully we can getguardianship back. then I can legally adopt him as my stepson.

well good luck. obviously he really cares about you.