How Often Can a Non-Parent Adult Win Child Custody?
An adult who wants custody of a child but is not their birth parent faces an uphill battle. Courts rarely grant non-parents these rights because it is believed that the birth parents provide the best guidance and most attachments to the children. It is only possible for a non-parent adult to win custody of a child if they can show that they are: • psychologically the child’s guardian, or • the biological parent(s) are unfit to be parents. Both of these hurdles are extremely difficult to clear and even if they are met, the non-parent custody must still be shown to be in the child’s best interests.
