Family rights for adoption Alabama

[jla55]

Recently I was asked to foster my great niece. I did not know this child existed until this past Christmas Eve. The child has been in foster care since birth(Feb 08). The mother has been gone since birth and her whereabouts are unknown. My nephew has been in and out of jail and has some mental illness problem. My sister(the childs grandmother) has refused to have any connection with the child. My nephew has expressed wishes in writing to DHR that he will sign his parental righs away in order for his child to grow up with family. After an ISP meeting with DHR, they discouraged us to proceed with adoption, that we did not want to be involved with the Dad. They proceeded to tell us of all the horrible things he has done, etc. All of which we already knew and are willing to deal with the issues. The DHR case worker and the GAL favors the foster parents to adopt. What rights do we have as family to adopt and have custody of this child? We have been told that family has first rights, but it seems we are going to have to fight DHR to adopt her. We are a good family, one of the few 'good guys' and they are trying to keep us from our family.