Legal Question in Family Law in Maryland

Re: Obtaining custody or visitation rights

You certainly may petition for custody. To assess your chances of obtaining custody, it would be helpful to know whether this child is the sibling of the child you have already adopted; whether grandparents will fight to obtain permanent custody; whether Mom's parental rights have are in the process of being terminated. Also where is Dad? Is Dad likely to contest an adoption? How long have grandparents been in recovery.

If you would like a more definitive analysis of your case, please call my office with answers to the above questions and we can discuss whether a custody proceeding is likely to be successful.

Re: Obtaining custody or visitation rights

There is nothing in the law to prevent you from filing an action for custody of your niece. Unless the court terminates parental rights, which would be the result of the voluntary relinquishing of rights by both parents or a court action by Social Services, the custody you might win would be temporary, in the nature of foster care. If Social Services is making the decisions at this point, I assume it is undisputed that at least temporarily both parents are unable to care for the children. You haven't indicated whether the mother of your son is also the mother of the new baby. If she is, she must have consented to the adoption, unless her rights had been terminated. Would she consent this time? Your case for custody would be enhanced by the fact that the courts tend to prefer to keep siblings together. You could make a strong argument that your son and his baby sister should be together. This, along with the opinion of Social Services that you are the more fit custodian, should give you a very good chance of succeeding in gaining custody.