What if the child's best interest does not coincide with the parents' personal desires?
It may be in the best interest of the child to remain in the home with people he has lived his entire life rather than be uprooted after the loss of his mother and transferred to someone he does not know.
If the natural father challenges the issue and desires custody the court will have a difficult decision to make. If he agrees to the change of custody, the court should most likely grant it. The situation is similar to a step-parent adoption where the state tends to be more lenient in the examination it makes before it grants the change of custody. In this case the natural parent in the household will have passed away; however the child has been living in the home with the stepparent and, if thriving, the court may grant it.
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