How do we go about taking guardianship or fostering our friend's children?

Question

My husband's longtime friend (who lives back east) has made a lot of terrible choices in her life and has been arrested on drug charges and will most likely be incarcerated for a couple of years. She has two young daughters (8 and 13), a 17 year old son and a grown son (now in the military). Her ex husband has custody of the 13 and 17 year old kids and she has sole custody of the 8 year old girl. The problem is that the kids' father is not a fit parent either and is being investigated for neglect and possible abuse of the 13 year old girl.

His friend's sister lives about an hour away from us (here in California) but she doesn't have the resources to take in any of the kids. My husband and I want to at least bring the girls here to live with us. We have a large house and no children of our own. I work from home and my mother in law lives with us, so they'd be able to have 24 hour supervision.

Does anyone know how we would go about taking guardianship? Is it possible to foster them? (that way we'd at least be able to get them medical and possibly some subsidization) Anybody take this road before?

Any help or guidance would be appreciated.

Answer 1

If the state has already taken them into custody, you might be able to work with the mother to be able to access their information.  Meanwhile, check on what it takes to become a foster parent in your state, which includes a home study, parenting courses, criminal background checks, including FBI and state level, as well as abuse allegation checks.  You will probably have to have the consent to adopt or foster forms from both parents to each child.  

Also, if they aren't in state custody, an attorney might be able to help you, however, it's harder to do across state lines. Each state's laws are different, and you might be able to simply go to the courthouse and get a guardianship filed there, and sometimes, depending on state laws, you might still have to have a home study.  Also, the local Dept. of Human Services/Child Protective Services in either your state, or the state where the kids are might be able to answer at least some of your questions.  Good luck.

Answer 2

You will have to speak to a lawyer because it is in a different state. They will most likely have you file for custody in the state where the kids are.