Options to forfeit custody?

[ECE1992]

Jurisdiction

Arizona

Long story short, my husband and I (25 and 24 years old) took in his, at the time, 14 year old sister and got legal custody. She is now 16, refuses to follow our house rules, ran away and is currently refusing to live with us so she is staying at a friend's. Agreeing to let her stay there was the only way she would disclose her location after running away so we did it to ensure her safety. She is filing for emancipation and even with our consent, I'm 95% sure a judge would deny it. DCS would find no real evidence of abuse that I'm sure she would try and claim. If emancipation is denied like I assume it will be, what are our options? Are we able to give up custody since we aren't her biological parents? It's to the point that her antics have caused enough stress to make me physically ill and be hospitalized. My husband is currently deployed military as well so it's impacting his mental health and career. We've made it clear that she is welcome in our home but has to follow rules. She still refuses. The running away was the only legal trouble she got into and she is successful in school and has a part-time job so I'm not sure if we can claim she's truant.

 

[shrinkmaster]

If she is in your legal custody she follows your rules not hers! Your letting her be in charge! If she wont come home have Police bring her home make it clear anyone given her a place to stay could face legal consequences. Ask around about other options like Teen boot camp even jail.

 

[shrinkmaster]

You might also visit the parenting forum (link below) hosted by this site. There you could find other parents in similar situation and find out what they did. Its not a legal forum like this one

 

[ECE1992]

At this point, she's put too much stress on us that we're fine with letting her go. She is not our actual daughter and when she did runaway, I told her about anyone helping can be charged and the police were already involved. She simply didn't disclose her location so the people couldn't be held responsible and in our city, the cops won't really do much. I just want to cut ties legally instead of allowing her to live somewhere else but still be responsible for her. I am just not sure if a judge would go for it or how we can start the process without going broke hiring a lawyer.

 

[army judge]

Long story short, my husband and I (25 and 24 years old) took in his, at the time, 14 year old sister and got legal custody. She is now 16, refuses to follow our house rules, ran away and is currently refusing to live with us so she is staying at a friend's. Agreeing to let her stay there was the only way she would disclose her location after running away so we did it to ensure her safety. She is filing for emancipation and even with our consent, I'm 95% sure a judge would deny it. DCS would find no real evidence of abuse that I'm sure she would try and claim. If emancipation is denied like I assume it will be, what are our options? Are we able to give up custody since we aren't her biological parents? It's to the point that her antics have caused enough stress to make me physically ill and be hospitalized. My husband is currently deployed military as well so it's impacting his mental health and career. We've made it clear that she is welcome in our home but has to follow rules. She still refuses. The running away was the only legal trouble she got into and she is successful in school and has a part-time job so I'm not sure if we can claim she's truant.

You and he can voluntarily relinquish custody of this little snowflake.

If I were you, however, I'd investigate a delinquency hearing, have her delayed incorrigible, and the court would delare her to be eligible for services, making her a ward of the state.

Ask DCS how you go about it, and request their involvement.

Releasing this acidic, little snowflake on the state of Arizona wouldn't be good for her, or the citizenry.

Relinquishing custody is far easier that terminating your parental rights, but harder than having the little snowflake declared incorrigible or delinquent.

The child could get harmed while not in your custody.
That could cause either or both of you to be charged with child neglect.
You've already decided to have your custody discharged, so get busy doing so tomorrow, or Monday at the latest.

To do so you simply make your desires known to DCS, or work with your lawyer or hire a paralegal to draft the petition to revoke your custody.

In fact, AZ makes it easy for you to do this for yourselves.



Educational resources::





Termination of Parental Rights


Terminating Parental Rights | AZ Statewide Paralegal