The past six months I have been caring for a little boy that is now 1 year old. The mother is not any relationship to me and actually hardly knows me. The mother met me through a friend. In the last four months I have had the child living with me with the exception of a total of 3 weeks which haven't been all together. The mom will take him a couple days at a time and then return him to me. Often it is a week or more without hearing from her.
When the child comes to stay she rarely sends me anything for him. She sent a total of four small cans of formula, a dozen diapers and a couple jars of baby food(she receives wic). He comes back to me dirty and hungry. One more thing. I do not get paid anything for watching the child.
I would like to know if what the mother is doing is illeagal or just bad parenting? I would be willing to keep the child permanetly. Also the mother has just had another baby a few days after this child turned a year old and has two other children that were removed from her custody. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to put some stability in this child's life.

You can contact cps to start a file on her. At that point the child will be dealt with through foster care, but since you have had the child as long as you qualify, they should let you keep the child. Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html. You can certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.