Best advice, seek a lawyer. Depending on your situation, usually the hearing is decided upon where the child is residing. If the grandparent now has custody, you will more than likely have to fight it out there. If you can get the ruling changed, then usually the next step would be to change venue, meaning when you regain custody, you can file to have the case moved to the county where you will be residing, if other than where your relative lives. You will have to provide proof of where both you and the child lives after that point.
I have dealt with this issue within my own family. The best thing you can do is find your own attorney out of the area, but still able to practice within the boundary of the child.

Good luck!!

Thank you for the websites and you honesty at not giving me information on what you feel isn't your department. I was able to leave a message and recieved a reply from your websites given. Thank you again!

I am currently speaking with a Probono. My son and I live in another city which is 1 hour away from the grandparents. However, he is no longer with me:-( My parents of course had the hearing in the city where they reside. The justice in this city is based on who you know and how well you know them. What was your experience that involved your family that was regarding custody and how did you overcome it? Not answering the last two questions will be quite fine...it's personal.

Thank you for your advice it is helpful and I am desperate in getting my son back.

I wish that I had something to tell you. I live in NC and my granddaughter is in foster care in Ohio since Sept. I want to get custody of her. I hired an attorney for nothing, flew to Ohio 3 times for court and all I get is that I basically can't get her because I live out of state. So does her father (my son) and the other grandmother. We all asked to take her rather than foster care and we were all denied. The case worker dropped the ball and screwed up the whole case to the point that when it was turned over to permanent family solutions they gave the case back in 2 days. Now it has been dismissed and refiled. We are back at the beginning. My granddaughter does not want to be with her mother. You tell my why a 5 year old little girl would not want to be with her mother? Something is wrong. So, why won't Ohio let her come live with me. I have been fingerprinted, home study, interviewed etc. even the case worker said there was a problem. So, what is the big deal??
I am sorry for you, I feel the same about my situation.

We are grandparents raising our 6 yr. old granddaughter. The mom was found to be "unfit". She abandoned her daughter, my son was not able to take care of her so we went to court,without a lawyer and was given permanent guardianship over her. We've had her since she was 3 and now she's almost 7 yrs. old. You need to prove to the court you can and are able to take care of her. We lived in one state, the dad lived in another state and the mom lived in yet a different state than the dad and grandparents. We were able to show proof that we had our granddaughter the majority of the year (when we were going through the courts to get her), and proved she was a resident of 'our" state we lived in. If you live in a different state or county, try to obtain a lawyer there. If you have a job, have a place to live, find a good sitter or day care for your child, as if you have her now. Then with all your proof of a job, place to live and you have the child in school, head start or day care too, they will see you are planning a life for the two of you. Where you live should not have any affect on where you file, but it could ok. It may depend on what the courts have on file for taking the child away from you in the first place. Find that out first. What exactly is the reason the courts took her away from you? If you had a court hearing, you are entitled to see a copy of it. You may have to pay a few dollars, but it's worth it to see what was said about you. They should have told you why they were taking the child away. The child was taken out of the home for a reason, and the states never take a child out of a parent's home unless they have a real good reason. The grandparents are the best "next home for the child to be placed in"! I hope I'm making sense. I don't want to sound like a "grandparent" that just took a child away from her birth parents, but if the birth mom or dad can't take care of the child properly, then the states move in and take over. The child has to be protected, as they are just children. If you've done nothing to have any sort of record, then you need to find out what judge did the hearing and try to get an appointment with him/her. First go to the courts and try to obtain as copy of the paperwork filed for the adoptive mom to have taken your child ok. Then go from there. You first have to find out what exactly the courts "have on file" as to the reason they took the child away. I wish you the best of luck, really. I feel that if the birth parents are able and willing to take care of their own birth children, they should. I'd give anything to see my granddaughter grow up in a home with her own birth parents, but for what ever reason, she can't, so she was given the opportunity to have a somewhat stable life with her grandparents. I love my granddaugher so much, but I do want her parents to be part of her life, but they choose not to..they are the ones loosing out of seeing her do things and just grow up. Good luck, find out what you can and go from there in your endevor to get your child back with you.