temporary guardianship

If you want the guardianship to stay in place but want to have more formal agreements with your mother for regular contact, visits, and so forth, informal or formal mediation may be appropriate.  Private attorneys and mediators are available in the community.  These professionals have training in mediation.  Choosing someone with knowledge of Arizona guardianships would be helpful.  A guardianship can be terminated. You (and any other legal parent) would need to file a request with the Arizona court.  If you request, it you can appear telephonically.  Before you file such a request, you need to be prepared for what may occur: If no one, such as your mother, contests the guardianship termination, it is likely to be granted. The Court does not have to grant the request.  Your daughter now needs to transition to an entirely new home, school, friends, and so forth.   You need to be prepared to provide full time care.  Your daughter may have a close bond with your mother and her Arizona community.  It may be in your daughter's best interests to continue to have regular contact and, maybe even visits, here.   If the termination of the guardianship is contested:  you need to be prepared to come to Arizona for the court hearing(s).  The Court will consider many factors which may include consideration of the child's relationship with you (and any other legal parent) and that this relationship is a priority over other relationships.  Other factors may include that the child has been living with her maternal grandmother for three years and likely has attachments to school, the community, and people here; the reasons the guardianship was originally put in place; the wishes of the child, especially if she is over 14; involvement of DCS (formerly CPS); substance abuse issues; and other factors.  As for legal help, you want to be looking for an attorney who handles guardianships for juveniles. They may list themselves as handling juvenile law and/or family law.  If the cost of representation is a concern, Arizona counties have a number of services.  In Maricopa County, for example, we have Community Legal Services, the Volunteer Lawyer's Program (through the Maricopa County Bar Association), and the Modest Means Program.  You would need to contact them directly to see if they take cases such as yours and whether you qualify.  Also, a number of private attorneys may be willing to provide consultation and document preparation which may reduce your legal costs.