Ohio
My grandchild was born addicted to fentanyl and was in the hospital for 3.5 weeks for NAS. He was released to his mother initially. She and my stepson had the baby for 2 weeks, in that time stepson was incarcerated. She dropped him off at our house "for a week" (now 5 months ago) while she went to rehab to get clean. We were able to get her to sign over POA. She has a voluntary case plan with CPS but currently nothing restricts her from picking him at any time because she still has custody. She was in and out of rehab 4 times before this last time where she stayed 2 months. We just found out she checked herself out a week and a half ago without telling anyone; not us, not the father of her other 2 kids, not CPS. No one knows where she's staying or why she left, or more importantly what her plan is. Ohio law is very pro-mother (at times to a point of ridiculousness) so we've been left waiting for a concrete reason to be able to file for custody.
My questions are:
What are our requirements for complying with CPS visits to our home? I have nothing to hide, but they want to come every month and it's often difficult to rearrange the schedule. They continuously tell us that they can't make anything more concrete for his protection because it's a voluntary case. We aren't part of any formal case plan, I've never even seen any paperwork on it let alone signed anything. CPS didn't place him with us, she did. Am I required to adhere to their visit schedule? What if I do not?
What is our best game plan for obtaining custody of our grandchild? At this point, even her parents (we keep in touch with them and they've visited) don't want him or her other 2 kids to go back to her, as they feel she will keep repeating the same cycles.
We've talked to local lawyers and all they will tell us is what paperwork they can file. They seem unable or unwilling to advise us of a best coarse of action. We felt relatively secure with the situation while she was in the rehab facility, but now feel like sitting ducks with her out and unaccounted for. I just want to be able to keep the baby safe.
My grandchild was born addicted to fentanyl and was in the hospital for 3.5 weeks for NAS. He was released to his mother initially. She and my stepson had the baby for 2 weeks, in that time stepson was incarcerated. She dropped him off at our house "for a week" (now 5 months ago) while she went to rehab to get clean. We were able to get her to sign over POA. She has a voluntary case plan with CPS but currently nothing restricts her from picking him at any time because she still has custody. She was in and out of rehab 4 times before this last time where she stayed 2 months. We just found out she checked herself out a week and a half ago without telling anyone; not us, not the father of her other 2 kids, not CPS. No one knows where she's staying or why she left, or more importantly what her plan is. Ohio law is very pro-mother (at times to a point of ridiculousness) so we've been left waiting for a concrete reason to be able to file for custody.
My questions are:
What are our requirements for complying with CPS visits to our home? I have nothing to hide, but they want to come every month and it's often difficult to rearrange the schedule. They continuously tell us that they can't make anything more concrete for his protection because it's a voluntary case. We aren't part of any formal case plan, I've never even seen any paperwork on it let alone signed anything. CPS didn't place him with us, she did. Am I required to adhere to their visit schedule? What if I do not?
What is our best game plan for obtaining custody of our grandchild? At this point, even her parents (we keep in touch with them and they've visited) don't want him or her other 2 kids to go back to her, as they feel she will keep repeating the same cycles.
We've talked to local lawyers and all they will tell us is what paperwork they can file. They seem unable or unwilling to advise us of a best coarse of action. We felt relatively secure with the situation while she was in the rehab facility, but now feel like sitting ducks with her out and unaccounted for. I just want to be able to keep the baby safe.
