I am 23. My mom had custody because I gave it to her in hopes that it would help me to get my son back, because that meant there were custody papers and the police wouldn't tell me "well there is no custody set", but it obviously didn't help. I gave her custody just before my second try to go to CO and get him. Before that, there was no "custody". I knew that because I had already been through it with my first son when my ex-mother-in-law took my child and played car tag with him to keep him from me because she wanted him.