Custody battle – please help

[Catherine_W]

Hi,

Please pray for my fiancé’s nephew. My fiancé’s sister (Sarah) was in a relationship with a guy that is not the greatest (to put it nicely) and she ended up getting pregnant at 19 years old, when she was a freshman in college (they were not married). My fiancés parents and sister have taken care of the baby who is now about 18 months old. They have provided everything for him and are trying to teach him good values and bring him up in a loving Christian home. My fiancé’s parents have guardianship over the baby. When he was about 1 years old he became very sick and without their wonderful medical coverage they had, im sure the baby would have died. Sarah and the baby live with my fiancé’s parents, and she has really put in so much effort into doing what is right for the baby. She has gone back to college and is making wonderful grades and taking care of the baby. The babies father has not done much with his life, he is a High school dropped out and can’t make enough money to support himself. For about a year after the baby was born he was still in a relationship with Sarah and during that time he had numerous opportunities to get his life on track (they asked nothing of him financially, but instead encouraged him to find a suitable job, he “tried” numerous ones including becoming a firefighter, or going to school, or joining the military, or working for Toyota) but never came through with anything and he would waste the money he had on tattoos and on a heavy metal band. He also has never had any part in raising this child, he would just stop by every now and then and that’s it. He would just take the baby for fathers day to show him off and then drop him back of to be cared for my fiancé’s family. He only cared about the title, not the child and the responsibility it entails. So eventually they broke up (he initiated the break up), and since then he has threatened their family and has been violent. So to protect the child they asked for him to not come around. Now he filed a law suit against them and won… so now he gets rights to see the baby and take him to another city when he wants and only has to pay 80 dollars a week in child support (which he can’t even afford, his mom pays for it). Even in court the judge agreed that he was a violent man, but still said because he is the biological father he gets to do what he wants. This verdict seems to go against common sense. He is violent, engages in illegal activities, can’t support himself, and doesn’t care for this baby because when he had every opportunity to do what is right to care for this child he decided he would rather not. What can someone do in this situation? How can they protect this child from this terrible man when the law supports him??

 

[Auriel]

WOW! What state do you live in? I cannot believe if he was seen as viloent that this would be allowed. In my state Joint Managing Conservatorship is the norm, UNLESS there is a history of viloence. Then she would have sole custody, and he would only have supervised visitation, and depending upon the cicumstances, perhaps even less. And in my state of Texas until the child is three years old it is not allowed on overnight visits, that is the standard visitation schedule for that age. There would also be counseling ordered and immediate drug testing, a panel hair strand if they are serious about it, although trust me, there are enzymes one can purchase that will temporarily cleanse the hair. That is the standard procedure here, although sometimes one does get a Judge who may be angry, secretly know the opposing party, about to lose office, or is just a plain jerk.

I feel for her, best of luck!

 

[momof8]

Catherine,

Entrust that little one to the Blessed Mother, and I pray they will try other legal options. Everything can be appealed, can’t it? Pray and pray and pray to the Blessed Mother!

I will certainly keep this little one in prayer.

 

[Catherine_W]

Thanks for your prayers! Yes they are going to counter sew… or appeal or something (I don’t know all the legal terms). I get told everything from my fiancé who is informed from his parents, so I don’t know every detail and legal term. But I guess I explained it a little incorrect, I guess he doesn’t have custody but he has unlimited visitation rights, and he can take the baby away to another city for days at a time completely unsupervised! :nope: I can’t believe this can stand with his violent behavior, the judge even acknowledged his violence and said that he just needed some anger management, and that statement caused him (the babies father) to become enraged even in court. We are all praying that soon this will get better and that the baby will be safe. Basically the judge said the only way that he could not have these rights is if he was in jail. Thanks again for your prayers.

 

[LSK]

I am glad they are not giving up the legal battle. May I make a suggestion? Buy the little one a Guardian Angel doll and start teaching him about his Guardian Angel being with him no matter what…I did that for my niece and nephew during the first few months of the divorce and it gave them a lot of comfort.