A child (11) that I have been coaching for the last 4 years lives with his grandmother. She is dying of pancreatic and breast cancers. She has hd full custody of him due to the fact both of his biological parents are addicted to heroin. He stays with me every weekend and goes everywhere with us. He even goes to my ex-wife's house sometimes when it's the kids' weekend there.

His grandmother and I talked, and we have decided that it would be in the best interest of "little Billy", to sign over custody to me. I have had lengthy discussions with my own kids about this and they are very supportive of this. I need to know my what my first steps should be. Should I get a lawyer? Can I do this myself? What if his parents decide they don't like this?( Highly unlikely)  Thanks in advance.

Mike

legal guardianship and adoption are different animals. I'm not sure of the legal intricacies involved but if you're going for full adoption, even a consensual  adoption can be costly. That being said, there are some advantages to a full adoption.

That being said, legal guardianship can work quite well in many cases. I would find a family law lawyer (hopefully one with adoption/guardianship experience) and discuss it with them as the first step. Otherwise there may be resources in your AO, call around, ask around. There are a lot of charities that deal in this specific thing day in and day out. Even if they can't provide free assistance to you (they are generally there to make sure the kids that are already in a bad situation can get out of it), they will quite often give you advice and walk you through some of the legal mumbo jumbo that you will have to deal with.

IANAL

Thank you for your response. I was going to call the lawyer I used for my divorce to see if it is something he did. I will call around to some places in the next hour.