What are my rights?

i live in n.y. about a month ago my niece gave me her 3 year old son all his belongings /paperwork/ and his bed i moved him into my home she begged me to take him and adopt him she even wrote me a note saying he was better off with me and my husband . said it would be a voluntery adoption / bio dad pays support but is not in the picture so i knew i was gonna have to track him down . just got all my paperwork tostart adoption proceedings in the mail today and 5 minutes later my niece called me telling me she cant go thru with this now. i have tried to call her house a 100 times but shes not there . what are my legal rights because giving him bac to her is not in the best inteest of the child please help

Originally posted by duckie doo
i live in n.y. about a month ago my niece gave me her 3 year old son all his belongings /paperwork/ and his bed i moved him into my home she begged me to take him and adopt him she even wrote me a note saying he was better off with me and my husband . said it would be a voluntery adoption / bio dad pays support but is not in the picture so i knew i was gonna have to track him down . just got all my paperwork tostart adoption proceedings in the mail today and 5 minutes later my niece called me telling me she cant go thru with this now. i have tried to call her house a 100 times but shes not there . what are my legal rights because giving him bac to her is not in the best inteest of the child please help

There will be no adoption unless bio-mom consents.The child has only been living with you for a month and gives you little to no legal leg to stand on to try and adopt without her consent. The note she gave you would be useless in court. Save yourself money and grief and give the child back without a fight. If guardianship nor custody was ever legally established..the courts will only see it as you basically babysat the child for a month.