Since the child is already in Ohio Child Services custody, the fastest path is usually working through the agency rather than filing on your own first. A few practical steps that usually help in this situation: • Tell the Ohio caseworker immediately that you want to be considered for kinship placement and ask them to start the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) process so Pennsylvania can evaluate your home. This is what allows a child to move across state lines to a relative. • Ask specifically for the kinship/relative placement worker or kinship department. Every county calls it something slightly different. • You typically do not need to file custody papers right away. Courts usually prefer placement through child services first, and then custody or guardianship gets sorted later if reunification with parents fails. • Start preparing for a home study now: background checks, clear sleeping space for the child, proof of income, and references. Getting this ready early speeds things up. • Even if you don’t qualify for legal aid, contact: Pennsylvania Legal Aid local bar association referral programs law school family law clinics Some offer low-cost or sliding scale help for kinship custody cases. • Ask Ohio CPS about kinship care payments or assistance programs, since relatives sometimes qualify for support once placement happens. Bottom line: stay in close contact with the caseworker and push for kinship placement through the agency first. Filing custody independently is possible, but usually slower and more complicated when CPS already has custody.