custody battle

I live in Texas. Here's the story. My brother and his girlfriend had a baby. My mother took care of the baby from the time she was 6 months old until she was 3 years.
My brother died when the baby was 2 years and the bio-mother has abandoned the baby. My mother and I agreed that it would be better for the baby to be raised in a home with 2 parents (my husband & myself) than for my mother to be a single parent trying to raise a young child. So my husband and I have been raising the child as our own for the last 5 years (the child is now 8 yo). There is no official documentation of guardianship or anything. The child spent vacation time with my mother and now my mother refuses to let her come home claiming that she has filed papers with the court. We live in Dallas and she lives in Houston.
Do we have to go to court to get the child back or can we just go down there and attempt to get the child back? Or should we wait until we have filed papers (guardianship or something) to attempt to get her back?

[LegalBeagle]

How can people do it.. children are not property. Write to her, inform her that she has no chance of custody and any action she takes will not only hurt the child, but also the future relationship with both you and the child when she is returned.

In the meantime, get an attorney to file an ex-parte motion into court to gain emergency temporary custody. This can be completed within a few days. When this is granted, give your mother a final choice, release the child or she will be served via the police and they will effectively 'seize' the child.

I think your chances of getting the temp motion are pretty good.

THEN file for full custody.