The case you are citing is precedent ONLY in Ohio. NOT in California and therefore it is not relevant and could be extremely misleading. So please do not cite it on a California thread.
As for the fact that the child has been placed with a relative in OP's case -- the problem is, she is on equal footing with said aunt or stepaunt. Whatever. HOWEVER, the step-relation actually has more of a chance of custody because she has been responsible for this child, has been taking care of the child's day to day needs, and has passed all the background checks that are required to be a placement for a child in foster care. The grandparent has NO rights in this case. Legally the grandparent is a stranger and if they wanted placement should have asked many months ago when placement was FIRST being determined. If they hestitated then for whatever reason they have put themselves severely at a disadvantage.
The court is mandated to look at the best interests of the child and not what the adults in said child's life want. NOR are they to look at why the grandparent may have delayed. And that is assuming that paternity WAS and HAS been established. Quite frankly paternity is one of the first things the state does or attempts to accomplish when a child is placed in foster care.
Even under that assumption, if the child has a bond with the current foster placement, that foster placement, if they choose to, has superior rights to maintaining the child there.
Grandparent OP stated that:
This grandparent therefore put their child's needs in front of the grandchild. Hence they hesitated. That hesitation does not bode well for them. As for adoption, that will only happen if the parents' rights are all terminated. If the current foster placement seeks legal custody, the parents' rights will not be terminated.
If the grandparent wants placement they will NEED an attorney. They will also need to answer harsh questions regarding why they put their adult child's needs before the minor grandchild and how they will work for the minor grandchild's best interests in the future.
That is a hard battle.
Grandma's House -- you may mean well but posting irrelevant caselaw does NOT help matters. Nor does posting how things went in Ohio when the OP is not from Ohio and Ohio has nothing to do with it. You have made assumptions. You can't do that unless you have a legal reason to do so. Even an assumption that OP is male or female may start you off on the wrong foot. IF you sit back and read and start to learn the important questions to ask and why those questions are important, as well as apply your experience to the APPLICABLE RELEVANT LAW, then you could be a very useful member of this forum. However, every time you need to be corrected, it detracts and puts you in a hole. Look at it this way -- you start at surface level. Posting bad information makes you dig a hole. Good information allows you to climb a ladder. At this point in time you are in a hole. Until you even climb out of that hole and reach the surface again and start to ascend, the seniors are going to be watching you like a hawk and criticizing you. You only ascend by giving proper LEGAL advice.
