Alabama - Our nephew is 16 years old. Both his mom and dad live in the same city as us. They have been divorced for more than 10 years. His mom has full custody. Both of his parents have now abandoned him and have no desire to raise him and do not provide any financial support. His mom is hopping from hotel to hotel with her boyfriend in order to avoid bill collectors. She has also been in jail because she was caught wondering the road in the middle of the night intoxicated. She kept missing her court date and end up being covicted to 1 month in jail. His dad is living in a trash dump and driving without a license because it was taken away because he is a declared by Alabama as a "dead beat dad" for not paying child support. He is temporarily living with my parents (his grandparents). They have been granted temp power of attorney. They are both over the age of 66 and are not really in any physical or mental state to raise a teenager. My wife and I are wanting to get full custody of him so we can raise him and give him the home that he needs. Is there any legal way that we can take both parents to court and prove them both unfit as parents and get full custody? He's a good kid and needs a stable home environment.
My wife and I want to get all the information that we can get on this. He is a very bright, sweet, intelligent kid but we are afraid that he is getting involved with a bad set of kids. He has never had any real parenting and my parents (his grandparents) are afraid to lay down any laws because they are afraid to "rock the boat". We have tried to tell them that something needs to be done and we need to get full custody of him so that we can call the shots. He needs to get some professional help and some counseling but they say they can't do that because his mom controls his Medicaid card. They think that we can't legally go to court to get custody because his parents are both alive and if we prove them both unfit, he will be put into a foster home. We just don't believe that could be possible as long as he has living relatives who are willing to take care of him. Would we have any chance of getting custody according to Alabama Law?
My wife and I want to get all the information that we can get on this. He is a very bright, sweet, intelligent kid but we are afraid that he is getting involved with a bad set of kids. He has never had any real parenting and my parents (his grandparents) are afraid to lay down any laws because they are afraid to "rock the boat". We have tried to tell them that something needs to be done and we need to get full custody of him so that we can call the shots. He needs to get some professional help and some counseling but they say they can't do that because his mom controls his Medicaid card. They think that we can't legally go to court to get custody because his parents are both alive and if we prove them both unfit, he will be put into a foster home. We just don't believe that could be possible as long as he has living relatives who are willing to take care of him. Would we have any chance of getting custody according to Alabama Law?