[UncleMaybeDad]

Hi all,
I've been reading these boards for quite a while and see that you all have very good advice, etc. Here's my situation and I hope you can give me some insight.

My step-niece (not adopted by my brother, so no blood/legal relation) has just given birth to her 3rd child. She's 22 and does not get any support from the fathers of the other 2 children. (3 babies, 3 fathers). When she was about to give birth to her last daughter last month, she contacted me and said she wanted me to adopt her baby if it was the father of her 2nd child; who she was currently living with. They knew that they were unable to care for a 3rd child and she had previously considered letting me adopt her 1st and 2nd. After the DNA test was done, it was found out that the father is actually the "man" (I use that term loosely) that she had an affair with. Very Jerry-Springer. He told her under no circumstances would he consent to letting his baby be adopted, even though he has 2 other children that he doesn't support and has legal cases pending about those. He has not yet petitioned to be on the birth certificate, nor has he supported her or the baby aside from a few diapers and some wipes.
Over the course of the past month I've been in a waiting pattern---she wanted to see if he was going to be a responsible parent and if he was going to help her out, etc. For the first 3 weeks after she gave birth we were in constant communication, then beginning last week I didn't get any calls back or any news at all. So my assumption was that she decided to keep her. This past Sunday she called me, we had a long talk and she said she had decided that it would be for the best if I gave this baby a chance (I'm somewhat well off) and she could work on bettering herself for her older girls. Also, the bio-donor was supposed to take the baby for the first time over the weekend and returned her 45 minutes later stating she was crying too much.

I began all my preparations Sunday evening to fly to FL on Tuesday. I live in California, they are in FL. More on that later. Before I went and bought all of the baby furniture, etc. yesterday I called one more time just to make sure. It turns out her friends told her she was being a bad mom and she more or less changed her mind. Then she lied and said the bio-dad went to the courts to apply for guardianship.

Now it seems she's interested again. I'm not calling her back at this point because I think things are heated and out of control, but I plan on flying there this weekend to talk to her in person.
Since I'm in California and she's in FL, and being that there are no current petitions from the bio-dad (to either be put on the birth certificate or for guardianship), if she signs the papers to sign over guardianship to me and I hightail it back to FL, if there's a change of mind it has to be fought in CA courts. Neither she nor the bioD have the funds to do this.

My lawyer informed me that there will be court dates in CA that family members would have to attend if they wanted to contest. I'm not super worried about that, because neither of them have money to leave and I believe the bioD is not allowed to leave the state. However, if he does contest, I was also told that he would have to submit to a home inspection in the state of FL. Being that he has drug-induced schizophrenia and is a drug dealer, I'm not too worried about that either.

My question is: If everything goes as planned, I obtain guardianship and adopt in 6-9 months, will I always have the risk that at some point in the future that one of them will be able to contest the adoption and take her away from me? I'm strong enough for all of the fighting for her in the short term to give her a chance at a better life, but I don't want to run the risk of having her taken away from me years down the road.

Sorry for the long read, and thanks in advance for any advice/insight/comments.