Maria Lopez, the grandmother who lost custody of her granddaughter after a judge decided she would be overwhelmed financially and emotionally in caring for a sixth grandchild, won her case in the Nevada Supreme Court.

Saying the Lopez case raised important public policy questions, the court made rulings that will result in Lopez gaining custody of her 2-year-old granddaughter, who has lived almost her entire life with a foster family who wanted to adopt her and who surely must be devastated by this decision.

The opinion released Thursday said the case raised important issues regarding child custody and the need to clarify Nevada's abuse and neglect laws. Essentially, the ruling makes clear that grandparents have a right to be heard in custody cases, and a family member who is fit to care for a child deserves consideration. It doesn't matter whether the foster home is a "better" home or the foster parents are "better" parents. Family gets preference over foster family.

County officials had argued the girl was better off with the foster family than she would be with her grandmother, who already is raising five of her daughter's children. The daughter is a drug addict with a criminal record who lost custody rights because she had drugs in her system when her daughter was born.

Lopez, 49, is a kitchen worker at the Stratosphere. Originally from Mexico, she is a U.S. citizen. When the Division of Child and Family Services said her home was too small for six grandchildren, she moved to a larger home. When her car wasn't deemed big enough by the county, she got another one. She wanted to raise her granddaughter and said it would be a family effort, with her grown children and the older grandchildren pitching in.

But a caseworker decided a sixth grandchild would overwhelm Lopez, and county officials fought her effort to gain custody of the child.

Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle, while praising Lopez for even wanting to raise six grandchildren, ruled in July 2004 that although Lopez was suitable to raise five grandchildren, six were too many, and the girl was better off with the foster family who had cared for her for eight months. He said it was in the best interest of the child. Later he denied the Lopez family visitation rights.

The Supreme Court said Hardcastle erred because it seemed the middle-class foster family's wishes carried more weight than those of the poorer Hispanic family.

Lopez was represented by Clark County Legal Services, and the head of the office, Barbara Buckley, who argued the case along with attorney Dan Polsenberg, said the case is significant because of the public policy issues involved. "It's a case where we were absolutely right on the law, but it's a tough case," she said Friday.

Now it's clear that a relative who is fit and proper has standing to have custody of a child, and the question of the best interest of the child doesn't override family ties.

Lopez is elated, Buckley said. "Mrs. Lopez loves her granddaughter and thinks of her every day." During the time when Crystal Figueroa was known as Jane "Cordova" Doe, Lopez worried that the girl might be her granddaughter, who was about the same age. When Legal Services checked on her granddaughter's whereabouts and assured her the child was not the girl found in the trash bin, Lopez said, "Maybe I can sleep tonight."

The case will be returned to Hardcastle, but based on the Supreme Court's finding that the judge erred in his decision, there is no question but that the child will be turned over to her grandmother, Buckley said.

A child psychologist is being asked to help deal with the heart-wrenching process of taking a child from one loving family and handing her over to another loving family.

It was ludicrous for county officials to say Lopez could care for five grandchildren but not a sixth. Either she's fit or she's unfit. And because she had been deemed fit to raise the first five grandchildren, she was certainly fit to raise the sixth, without any county officials setting a cap on grandchildren. Poorer grandmothers don't have fewer rights than those with bigger bank accounts.

Jane Ann Morrison's column appears Monday, Thursday and Saturday. E-mail her at Jane@reviewjournal.com or call 383-0275.