Adopting a nephew

[Panda1106]

Hello. I live in ny and have a question about adoption. My brother passed away 2 years ago leaving a 3 month old baby. His girlfriend was caring for him but due to mental illness it seems she has given custody to her parents. They are wonderful people but they are older. For the past two years they have raised him and I have tried to be there as much as possible and we are very close. However, they now want to move to Florida with him the mother may or may not be going with them. I want to bring up the possibility of adopting him and I feel like they might not have the energy anymore to care for a kid especially as they are both retired and have a limited income stream. Would I have a strong enough case for adoption. I'm hesitant to bring it up because I don't want to damage our relationship and lose the opportunity to see my nephew.

 

[CTU]

Hello. I live in ny and have a question about adoption. My brother passed away 2 years ago leaving a 3 month old baby. His girlfriend was caring for him but due to mental illness it seems she has given custody to her parents. They are wonderful people but they are older. For the past two years they have raised him and I have tried to be there as much as possible and we are very close. However, they now want to move to Florida with him the mother may or may not be going with them. I want to bring up the possibility of adopting him and I feel like they might not have the energy anymore to care for a kid especially as they are both retired and have a limited income stream. Would I have a strong enough case for adoption. I'm hesitant to bring it up because I don't want to damage our relationship and lose the opportunity to see my nephew.

Mom is still Mom - adoption will not happen if she doesn't agree. I'm sensing that Mom would much prefer that the child remain with her or her parents ... yes? If that's the case, the only thing I can advise you to do is make sure you remain on stellar terms with Mom AND her parents.

 

[LdiJ]

Mom is still Mom - adoption will not happen if she doesn't agree. I'm sensing that Mom would much prefer that the child remain with her or her parents ... yes? If that's the case, the only thing I can advise you to do is make sure you remain on stellar terms with Mom AND her parents.

I agree 100%. All you are going to do is seriously offend everybody by even suggesting that you should adopt the child.

 

[Panda1106]

Thank you

Thank you for the advice in the end my hope is that his mother recovers full custody of her son and that I continue to be his uncle.

 

[Zigner]

Thank you for the advice in the end my hope is that his mother recovers full custody of her son and that I continue to be his uncle.

In that case, adoption is totally off the table.

You can offer to care for your nephew if his grandparents ever feel they are unable to do so, but I would't push any more than making the offer.