my husband wants custody of his son from his ex

What is the name of your state? illinois my husband wants custody of his son because his mother does not take care of him. in school he does not do his work or homework. she does not make him. she has 5 kids and 3 of them are her boyfriends (my husbands 1st cousin) who is on social security be cause he is at 5th grade level mentally. she is never hom she goes to concerts and works and leaves my step son with this man who has also been to prison for domestic battery on my step sons mom. he is always mean to my step son. and lets him do what ever he wants. his schooling is more of a concern than anything and she makes excuses for him instead of helping or trying to get help for him. we had him in counseling and she removed him from that. we do not have the money to fight for custody does any one have any suggestions

[stealth2]

For starters - how long has she had custody, and how have things changed (either with her situation or Dad's) and how long ago?

she has had custody for only a year. she has not taken him to the doctor in 3yrs or the dentist. i took him for the first time when he was 8yrs old and he had 8 cavities. in the last year he has had head lice 6 times, ring worm 4 times, and scabies 3 times and every time we have taken care of the problem and taken him to the doctor. he does not get a bath but maybe 2 times a week with her. and shes does nothing for his schooling. we pay child support and still take all the responsibilty for him she is only worried about her other kids. all of her other kids get new clothes and shoes but he gets nothing. she lets him where clothes 2 sizes too small and shoes with holes in them. she has no bills to pay because she has public aid (food stamps) medical card for her other four kids but my step son has insurance by my husband. her rent is paid by housing she lives in an $800.00 a month house but pays nothing. community action pays her utilites. so there is no reason she cant buy him some things. my husband supports me and 3 kids at home and pays child support. and still fully supports his son. with no public assistance. but the health and enviorment of my step son is the problem. her house is filthy. but we do not have enough money to get him which we were told would not be hard because of doctor reports and school reports and police reports of domestic battery by her boyfriend in front of the kids that he has been to prison for but she let him come right back. we have tried DCFS and they give a week to clean her house. ans do nothing. the doctor even reported her to DCFS about bruises but they did nothing. we are just so confused with no help. we can give what he needs . she lets us have him for 6monthes then she got pregnate with her 5th kid and took him back because there was no custody because they were never married. we did not seehim for 2 months. she needed the child support because my husband is the only one that pays child support out of her 5 kids

[stealth2]

Okay... Although on the surface one would say that he shouldn't be in that environment, the question is going to be - how different is it from when your husband fathered this child? Since you were able to take him to the dentist, it's presumed that Dad also could have - yet he didn't do it either. Why not? I'm not being difficult, but these are questions that will be asked, and we only have a small bit of the story here. What sort of proof do you have that the child is neglected while his half-siblings are not?

(edit) also - how is the living situation different from when she was awarded custody a year ago? Did Dad try to get custody then? If yes - why was she awarded custody. If no - why not?