My nana passed away in April this year. She had custody of my neice. I lived with my nana and neice for 3 years before my nana passed. I wasn’t living there when she passed though. So the neighbors took custody of my neice. Bc her family could step in to take care of her. She is refusing to let me see my neice. She makes up excuses everyday. As to Why they can’t meet me. I’ve seen my neice on video chat one time since my nana passed away. And now she’s posting that my neice wants them to adopt her. She’s 9. Is there anything I could do to get visitation rights. She’s not biologically my neice. My nana is my moms stepmom and my neice is my nanas great neice. But I have pictures to prove I’ve always been in her life. Idk what to do. It’s killing me not seeing her. She was like my child. Any advice would help.
How could the neighbors just ‘take’ custody?
How the hell do the neighbors just “take custody?” That makes zero sense unless your nana had a will and in that will she named those people as her guardians
The first issue should be who appointed the neighbors as guardians!!! I’d contact CPS who will begin an investigation. You could probably ask the Court to appoint you as temporary guardian for your niece until a permanent decision can be made.
Def not the whole story
She probably had something in her will about the neighbors or even had it set up beforehand
I’m sorry but you are not a blood relative and you have no rights at all with this child. She’s nine years old and must be in school so they have got legal custody of her somehow. Nana must have written legal documentation before she passed. If they do adopt her they should be more lenient to let you see her afterwards. I’m sure they are worried about you changing her mind. If she is being taken care of correctly and she’s happy there please let her be. You can go to court all you want but if Nana left papers it was her wish for them to get custody it’s a waste of your money and time to contest it. If you want to be in that Child’s life keep trying. You were not there at the end For either Nana or child and I wonder about that. The neighbors obviously was. You did not talk to Nana about what would happen to her if she should pass either. I am also not buying she was like my child. Sorry can’t help but wonder what’s in it for you. My advice is let the girl be happy. Nana knows best.
according to what im reading family did not want her so im glad the neighbors took her instead of foster care i would have done the same i hope a lot of you would but. if she is no kin its up to the people that has her
You need a lawyer & more family on your side. Good luck.
Contact the citizens advice bureau, they have lawyers that can advise you legally on where you stand.
It sounds like your mom’s stepmom was a really good, loving, caring, dependable person who was there for those who needed a stable place. That’s wonderful & I’m sure that’s what she wanted for each of you she took in. You don’t say how old you are. You don’t seem to have your own transportation. You don’t say if you’ve had negative issues in your life. You don’t say anything about your own stability. You don’t say why you weren’t living with your mom’s stepmom & her great niece or how long ago the 3 years you lived with them were. You also just say that you want to see the child — not that you want custody of her. Given the little information you furnished, saying that she was like your child doesn’t really ring true — especially if the social worker (one had to be involved) didn’t even contact you. I’m sure you mean well, but I suspect there are reasons the neighbors may think you wouldn’t be a good influence on the little girl.
Placement is all about what is in the child’s best interest. She’s already faced some hard knocks in her short life — no parents involved, someone old enough to be her grandmother raising her & you having been in & out of her life (as what kind of an influence is not indicated). She needs stability & love.
If you really want to be a continuous part of the child’s life (even like an aunt, a Godmother, a loving friend or a caring roll model — not necessarily a mother figure) & can show the authorities that you can be a positive influence, who won’t try to undermine the people who are making a home for her, I feel like the social worker would help you work with The Who want to make a permanent home for this child. On the other hand, if you know of some reason why they are not good people or ones who should be allowed to raise a child, that should also be reported to the social worker/authorities — not something made up, something serious & factual. Think about how your mom’s stepmom thought about the neighbors. We’re they friends? If so, they’re probably the kind of people she would want raising this little girl. And, if you actually have a lot more positives than negatives to offer the little girl, the people would probably welcome you into her life gladly.
Why not talk to the neighbor & tell her you would like to be a part of the child’s life. If you know you have some real work to do on yourself to make yourself the kind of person who deserves to be a part of this child’s life, tell the neighbor you’d appreciate an opportunity to video chat with her & the little girl regularly every couple of weeks (while you are working on yourself until you can prove that you have a steady job, a safe place to live & have established a respectable life — over 8 or 9 months to a year’s time) so you can keep in touch & prove yourself.
If the people go to church regularly, ask if you can join them — & provide your own transportation. If the little girl has extracurricular or school activities that don’t conflict with your work, ask if you can join the adults to watch. Ask the lady if you can bring the child a card or take her a cupcake with a candle & a Dixie cup of ice cream for her birthday, mail her a Valentine. Get her a little stuffed bunny or a chocolate bunny for Easter. Do something (within your means) for Christmas & other holidays. Ask the lady if she will give the child cards you mail to her — or if you can visit them on special occasions or once a month for a brief time. Maybe the 3 of you can take a walk or go to the park or play hopscotch or something that will allow the lady to see that you are progressing, too. There is no reason the lady will not want stable, positive influences in the child’s life, too. Mother’s & mother-figures want the best for their children. It’s a matter of character & reliability that counts, not a matter of money. They’d rather have someone who can bring a sucker or cupcake or stick a dollar bill in a (homemade) card & share their good soul than some rich person who swears & lies or does other things that won’t help shape the child into a good person that makes parents or parent figures want to keep others away from a child.
Talk to yourself seriously. Then figure out what you can do to get things on the right track. However, if you know you cannot be a positive, reliable, stable person in this child’s life, stay away. If, as you say, she was like your child, you want the best for her, too. That’s how mothers are. They put their children’s well being before their own. Would you want you in your own child’s life? Can you be an available & good role model in helping this child develop into a person you will be proud of?
If you want to see this little girl because you honestly love & care about her & want the best for her & think you can help with that, your heart is in the right place. If you want to see her because you just don’t have anyone else & being with her for a while helps you gm forget your own problems, take the high road & stay away. Tell her you are happy she has another good home & will always love her — but you have to be gone for a long time & hope y’all can get together in a few years, when you get back. Then send her a card from time to time.
Courts are free an u can defend urself
You have time still go to a lawyer and request visitation work with the lawyer if you want the children but remember it is a big process but you have a chance if you do l had a friend who fought for. Five year and got custody of his son he was a single dad until his son was in high school it is totally up to you it will be a long road but you get visitation or possibly custody good luck don’t give up
Did your Nama have a will that said your niece goes to the neighbor? If not, then she should go to her next of kin. If she did have a will appointing them as guardians then they’re her legal guardians but you can still fight it since you’re a blood relative. You need to get a family lawyer and file for custody asap. The longer they have her and you don’t have contact, then the more likely they’d get her. I’d also call DCFS for a welfare check and see if they can help you.
There is more to this story… how is it the neighbours have your niece?…did you not know nana died and to come and care for your Niece? If not where you not able to be found when your niece needed somewhere to go?…
If you were always in her life you can go to court to get visitation. You might get something like once a month but you have to prove you have been in her life.
If the neighbors are family and are closer in relation then there isn’t much you can do. If your technically not her aunt then unfortunately you don’t have a strong case.
Family is Family. Neighbour is a Neighbour. Go court. She knows you she must be bereaved and confused x
If you’re not related by blood legally you don’t have a leg to stand on. I’m confused as to why you didn’t try to take the child originally if you love her like your own. Your best bet is to play nice so you get more visits hopefully
The neighbors can’t just take her. You should get paperwork and more info and/or call child protective services.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you, I hope everything works out. My heart goes out for you 
Im Sorry to hear about your Nana, sorry for the laughing emoji I changed it accidentally pressed the wrong one. I hope it can be sorted out and you get to see her. 
Best thing to do is see a lawyer.
I would say you have legal chance if a neighbor does. Who approved of the neighbors housing her??
Get a lawyer and do things legally. The judge will decide
why dont you learn to tall like a grown up
Why were you no longer living with them when your Nana passed?
Take it to family court
Your ONLY option is getting a lawyer and going to family court. From there, you will have to pay a separate lawyer for your niece thru the court. Your nieces lawyer will then work with you, the neighbors, the judge, and your lawyers. He/she will put a recommendation in on what is in the best interest of the child. 9/10 times the judge will rule based off what the child’s lawyer suggests.
How did the neighbours get involved? What is their relationship to the child?
Who said the neighbour could have custody? If they have no rights, its kidnapping and the police should be contacted
Call Family Services and ask them what to do. At the very least, they’ll do a welfare check. Get a lawyer ASAP.
Talk to a lawyer, legal aid.
You need to talk to a lawyer not FB
Definitely talk with a lawyer
Something seems off. closest relative regardless of blood would be first in line no? How would the neighbors that didn’t even live with the girl be put in charge
Need to go to family court
What kind of home life will she have with you?
Contact the police and a lawyer immediately. The neighbors have no rights to just step in and keep the child without some legal will or other guardian arrangements.
How does a neighbour just take out over custody…did nan have a will .
First speak to lawywr then child protection through the police so they can do a police check and welfare checks. The department of families need to speak to child and the ppl who have her separately and department would have to do a heath check on child .then speak to u …but as you know this child she better with u but there is a lot of stuff u have to do first…
Get a lawyer.
The answer depends on many different questions. No one on fb can answer that for u.
Nope you have no rights. Should have stepped in earlier to get custody.
They think they can get their hands on her inheritance or worse do something to her. It sounds like there may be some brainwashing involved.
Likely the court will or have appointed a CASA/ ad litem for her. Do not delay. The child is old enough to say what she prefers. She isn’t just given to the neighbors and legally you are related even if not closely.
TLDR; If they don’t have custody, call CPS and a lawyer ASAP.
If they do have custody, call a lawyer and take it to family courts demanding for visitation rights.
Neighbors can’t just take custody because they’re available. Even if there was a case where they wanted to adopt or where a foster care home they would still have to go through a process and still may not even be chosen. Unless one was appointed as a godparent or is more related then you are that’s the only way they could’ve have gotten immediate placement. Even if written in a will in the event of someone’s passing there’s a seperate process you have to complete before death in the event that the will was falsified. If you do not complete it then it’s up to the courts on what to do, which could’ve been the case but all living relatives should’ve been notified in case any wanted to step in. Even through marriage makes you ‘related’ so you do have more visitation rights then a complete stranger or in this case, neighbors. You are a relative that was active in her life before they “took over” and they seem to be very adamant about keeping her away from family which is on the odd end and rises for concern. Call CPS to do an immediate welfare check, inform them you’ve been denied visitation and have only video chatted with her once so you’re very concerned for her and feel as if they’re speaking for her. Gather up a lawyer as well and take the case to family court. Don’t wait for the welfare check to do that, do it immediately after calling CPS because they could take a bit and you don’t need to be waiting around for something to happen while you wait for them to check on her. Custody or not you still have the right to see her.
If they have no custody or placement rights they could be charged with kidnapping. If the local law enforcement or CPS didn’t know it was happening and she was abused you could possibly file for a lawsuit for pure negligence as they should’ve checked to ensure that she was placed with living relatives before placing her with random neighbors. And if they felt the need to place her with non-family they should’ve checked to ensure it was a fit home and the people were sane. You’d be amazed at how many kids get swept under the rug like this and lost in the system with “families” that are neglectful.
However, if they somehow have placement rights over her and deny you visitation, get a lawyer and take it to family courts and demand visitation rights as you do have the right to see her and she may want to see you too but can’t because others are speaking on “her” behalf.
Hope she is safe!
This is a crazy story a neighbor can’t just take custody call child welfare
how do the neighbors “take Custody” of the child?
All you can try is th legal route. I cannot understand how a neighbour can step in and take a child. Seems odd.
Consult a family law attorney- but at least in my jurisdiction you would have no standing here.
Talk to a custody lawyer
Do you have a home for this young girl? And where is the mother and father?
As others said, " GET ADVICE FROM AN ATTORNEY, THEN HIRE HIM TO TAKE YOU THROUGH THE PROCESS…Anything else is not definitive action…please.
Go talk to a lawyer is all that I can say
Call child protection and learn your rights
You’re family, file for custody
Call CPS the neighbors can NOT legally take control of the child .
You need to seek legal advice,I’ll guarantee that they have
CPS. Then family court. ASAP
Go get some proper advice x
Family court is we’re you have to go!
You need to get a lawyer. If she has no other biological family then you might be next in line. This neighbor cannot legally keep a child just bc. That sounds like kidnapping
Will from grandma or not Please get legal or social children advice
There was a film about the doggy pretend adoption and it might not be related but better be safe than sorry
I do agree that there might be two sides of the story
She can be coerced in saying she want to be adopted by them
May be the grandma felt that the family was not reliable enough ?
The neighbors can not take custody right away. The child will go to a family member but if none of the family members take custody then they will have the right to have custody.
bunch of wannabe lawyers on here.
If they had no legal rights, that’s kidnapping.
Seek Legal. Advice ASAP
Get a recovery ASAP
The only legal thing you can do is, get a lawyer and take it up with the court.
The foster system does NOT automatically place children with relatives over strangers. If the neighbors had a relationship with the child, offered to house her, and passed inspections by DFACS they would have been granted emergency custody. They didn’t ‘steal’ this child.
Contact Social Services in your area first. ALL departments across the US are focused on maintaining healthy family ties; so unless there is a valid reason you shouldn’t be in touch that agency can work with the family to approve contact. If that fails hire an attorney. Legal Aid might be able to assist you if you cannot afford a lawyer on your own.
I really doubt you could get any type of legal rights . And also, unless they were legally given guardianship by your grandmother they can’t legally care for her either.
It will be hard for you to prove an type of “ claim” to her
They can’t just take her I would contact social services & the police to get her back with family makes you think what they telling the child
Well, here we go with another story where people here just take bits and pieces of THIS person’s side of the story and start attacking when you don’t have all the information. All of you who are saying “How can they just get custody? Call CPS” are being weird and honestly, kind of naive and stupid. No one can just “take custody.” Obviously, because the “niece’s” family couldn’t do so, they did. There was likely some agreement in place before the “nana” passed. Since NOT ONCE in this story did the writer say that they illegally or against anyone’s wishes took custody. HER ISSUE IS NOT that they have custody. Her issue is that she’s not seeing the child. And unfortunately for this situation, since she is in no way blood related to the child, there is no legal way for her to file for visitation. And “photos” you can’t just take to a judge and say “she used to live with my mom’s step mom and me, I have rights.” That’s not how this works.
With that said, I am in no way trying to insult or judge the writer. In fact, I do sincerely hope that there’s some way that she’ll get to see this child who has been a part of her life for a long time because that is a crappy situation.
I just do not understand how some of you react sometimes. You go off with little to no information. You’re basically trashing the family who has custody when obviously the state gave them custody. And they took in a child that wasn’t theirs when the “Nana” passed away. To me, that’s a pretty selfless act.
We have zero way of knowing if there may be a reason why they won’t let the “niece” see her. Or if genuinely, they’re busy, or trying to build a routine and help the child adjust.
But again, unfortunately, this child being the the great niece of her mom’s step mom gives this person zero custodial rights.
I know we’re here to give advice; I just wish I knew where some of these commenters anger or points of view come from. Sad really.
Why don’t they want u to see her? Not accusing just have some questions. Would u be a good influence on her? Is ur life straightened out? Was it ur Anna’s wish that ur niece go with the neighbors? If yes, why? If no u need to get an attorney to fight for you.
there’s a lot missing. How do the neighbours just take custody? Really tho, go talk to a family law lawyer.
Take it to court. You could be granted custody or visitation based on you being “someone of genuine care and interest in the child”. That’s the law. Get yourself legal aid if you can’t afford a lawyer
I’d go speak to a lawyer
She will be put in a foster h one unless the neighbors are fostering her.
If so she maybe adopted by them if that’s her request.
Legal advice varies depending where you are- you aren’t going to get very accurate advice if we don’t know where you are🤷and Facebook really isn’t the place you should go for this- speak to a lawyer in your area
That’s not legal. That is kidnapping.
Don’t take advice from Facebook. Talk to a lawyer or legal aid in your area.
The neighbors, wth?
GET a lawyer problem solve
Lawyer needed. And contact the social work department.
Get a lawyer or cal CPS.
Alot of information is missing. Do you not get along with these people. Have you had issues with them. Have they said why they won’t let you her? Do they feel you would be a bad influence on her. There’s a back story we don’t know. Did they get custody. I don’t know why they would not let you see her . Family would be so important. Does she want to see you? Be honest with yourself. I can’t believe they would not let you see her if it was healthy relationship. If they are just bad people and won’t let you see her and you think it will be beneficial for you both to have a relationship Then get a lawyer. Good luck . Have you tried sitting down with them and finding out what their issue is. Maybe they just want her to get settled in.
Kidnapping get an attorney now and call CPS.NOW .DO IT NOW YOU DONT HAVE NO IDEA WHAT IS GOING ON BUT GET A COP TO WRITE KIDNAPPING CHARGES FIRST THEN A LAWYER AND CPS THEY HAVE NO NONE RIGHT TO HOLD HER HOSTAGE OK
There is more to this story
Take it to court 
Not the full story here
Oh, I got this one.
Step one. Turn off Facebook.
Step two. Seek legal advice.
I would like to hear the results and the outcome of this case
How about social services.
There is more to this.
In order to at least be awarded visitation that is not supervised you need a stable home life and be of age yourself. Do you have that since you’d been living with your grandma and then elsewhere upon her death? If you do have a stable home environment, how old are you, are you married etc? Do you have income to hire a family lawyer? This is a huge financial and time consuming thing you’re trying to insert yourself into. And those questions will absolutely come into play. You also say she’s not your biological niece…that doesn’t help the situation either and won’t give you a leg up in the courts. A lawyer can advise you better than anyone on Facebook but there’s a lot not included in this post that make it seem not so much in your favor.
You definitely need a lawyer and see where you stand but I’m confused why the neighbors took custody of her shouldn’t she have went to family was the social workers or anything involved if not you need to speak with them and the police because something is wrong they shouldn’t have gotten custody if it wasn’t approved by anyone
Authorities or a Social Worker needs to at least do a Welfare check on your Niece…make sure these neighbors aren’t messing with her head and that she wants to be there…I don’t see why they wouldn’t let you at least see her,she needs some type of family near her right now,
You may not be Blood related but obviously you Love her
I’m sure if you find the right lawyer and tell them whats happening, they may be willing to work with you pro bono.
Go to family court ASAP and then call the police to see if they have illegally taken custody of her
This makes absolutely no sense! You don’t just give a child to strangers and have them be her legal guardian. You need to get whoever works with this kind of thing in your state to do an investigation and get to the bottom of this. You need to speak to your niece and ask her what she wants. Maybe you can get custody of her if that’s what would work for you. I mean neighbors wtf?!
Dept of children and families ,but was there a will???