Can I adopt my cousin? (Ohio)

Legally it would be pretty hard to get custody, and almost impossible without the mother's consent. I would call CPS to be honest with you. You could try and get a recommendation that they give you custody rather than her going into foster care.

Yes you could but her mother's rights would have to be terminated or she would have to sign her rights away. CPS should be called as that doesn't sound like a healthy environment for a child to be in.

First, you need to be very careful about two things. 1. CPS is not the enemy. While I am a new foster parent, I never understand why so many people thing CPS/CPI/DCF/Foster Care is such a bad guy. They only do what's best for the children. I'm sure there are horror stories out there, but the reason there such horror stories is that the entire system is a bunch of people trying to do the best for children and when that doesn't happen it's such a huge shock. No one "in the system" I know is sitting around trying to figure out how to screw over the bio-parents, or eat the children, or employ them in slave labor etc. Every single person I met is so focused on what is best for the children. Just keep that in mind.2. You have no right to tell her parents what life style they should teach or provide to the child. You can, and should do something if the environment is unsafe. But NOTHING in your post is an unsafe environment. Messy, animals, fleas, and bugs, may not be what you (or I) would consider "normal" but if it's not causing harm to the child, then guess what. It's cool. Fleas are a weird one. Prolonged exposure to flees is certainly not a good thing, but anyone with any kind of furry pet has had to deal with fleas at some point. If children were taken from there parent's care because of fleas no one would be allowed to keep their kids. Same with lice, or other bugs. Long term it might be a symptom of a problem, but I promise you, if you have kids they will smear sticky, gooie, bug attracting stuff in the weirdest places, and you will at one time or another (at least) get bugs. Oh and to make matters even more interesting while you child is running around sticking candy in the couch cushions , to attract the bugs, if you have kids you generally stay away from the stronger pesticides to remove the bugs. So all you really do is kill the small weak bugs and end up with, at one point or another, a Godzilla sized bug issue. It happens to everyone so try not to judge to harshly. Nothing wring with hording. Again may not be something you would do, but it's not going to cause any harm by it's self. If their hording chemicals, or running a drug lab, or trafficking people you may want to get involved, but 7,000 copies of Times magazine never hurt anyone.It's really important to separate your idea of what a good environment is from the picture and look objectively at the situation. Nothing in that environment is bad or dangerous as you have it posted there. It's just different from your ideas of what a good home should be.If you really think there is a risk to the child then call CPS. It's their job to determine if there is a real risk or if the situation is just different from the 80's sitcom home that everyone is supposed to have. What you describe just sounds like a different but otherwise safe home. But again CPS is trained to actually make that call, so let them do their job. Aside from that, your not going to get custody. Even IF CPS finds a problem (again I don't see one in your description) they will more then likely just provide the mother with services that she may need. If they think the child has to be removed from the home, they may place the child with you temporarily (as apposed to strangers) but inside the "realm" of foster care (the term they use here is relative placement) and have the mother start a "case plan" to correct the issues that they saw in the house. There is almost no way that they would terminate a mother's rights to her children (TPR, or Termination of Parental rights) because her house is messy, loud, or has animals. If it really is bad enough that they think the child is unsafe they will simply ask the mother to clean up, maybe take a class or something, and then let the child go home. What I recommend is just being around. Showing the child that there is other options and focusing on "I would" style of statements and not "They are" style. For example "I would try to keep my kitchen clean" over "They are not keeping their kitchen clean".

You could ask her mom. The mom probably knows that the living situation isn't ideal. Just curious though, what about the sister?

I agree with Carly. You should have a conversation with her mom. Maybe she would allow the girl to stay with you for a while. If she thrived there, maybe the mom would extend it to longer.