Getting Custody when other parent is in jail?

[Cheryl]

My boyfriend is in NJ due to surgery for a work related accident. While living in NJ, his daughter remained in Florida with her mother. The Mother is now in jail for several different charges, one of which was leaving the daughter home alone for 3 days, and the daughter was given to the Mother's parents. He has gone back to Florida to get custody and bring her to NJ where he now lives. He took the parenting classes they requested, showed her school records of the time she spent at his house while living with him in Florida, and also took I believe drug/alcohol testing for the courts. They declined to give him custody because he is on disability for his back injury. How can this happen? If I was hurt on the job and had to remain on disability my children wouldn't be taken from me. What do we need to do in the eyes of the court to be successful at retaining custody? Any help or advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

[Attorney Howard Iken]

I assume the entire case was in dependency court. In that type of court many parents routinely have their rights trampled upon (in my opinion). The problem is he probably used the court appointed attorney.

He has to raise the money needed for a private attorney that will be aggressive on his case. That is the only way.

Attorney Howard Iken
The Divorce Center