So my child (4F) went to her dad’s for weekend visitation on Friday. It’s been a high conflict parenting situation for us. Our custody plan states he gets every other weekend, with time ending at 5 PM on Sundays. MLK was his holiday, starting at 9 AM and going to 8 PM. He recently moved out of state without telling anyone. He refused to bring her back on Sunday night, so I called the police for a welfare check because he’s being investigated by CPS for poor living conditions. The officer went to his home, and they found piles of trash, roaches, and rats. Our daughter looked disheveled, dirty, and miserable. I filed an emergency complaint with CPS, and they visited today. He told the CPS agent he’d return our daughter today at 8 PM as per the holiday schedule, and they said someone would follow up tomorrow about necessary changes. Long story short, he called the sheriff and told them to notify me that he wouldn’t be returning our daughter due to a bruise they found during her bath that she said came from my home. It feels like retaliation for the police and CPS coming to his home. This isn’t the first time he’s filed a false report to try to keep custody, but it is the first time he hasn’t returned her. I have a family law attorney who has been out for the long weekend, but I retained them on Friday hoping to file motions before this happened. I plan to be at the office at 8 AM to talk with them. I’m looking for any insight on what my next steps should be. What motions can I file or what emergency injunctions can I have filed to get the judge to return her? How long does it usually take to get my daughter back? Has anyone else been in this situation? I’m really worried for her safety and just want her home.
So he’s already being investigated for poor living conditions, but nothing’s happened yet? Seems like if it was that bad, the child would have been removed from his home by now. You both are in a high conflict situation, and it could end up costing a lot of money. I really think if you keep going back and forth like this, it could harm her mental health. Have you thought about your co-parenting situation? You might have to file a motion for a parenting modification and probably have to do mediation. But it sounds like you’ll probably file an ex parte immediate danger on your ex first since that’s what high conflict parents do.
I think a court order that just specifies weekends might be unenforceable. It could be confusing. You might want to modify your order to something like first, third, and alternate fifth weekends for one of you and second, fourth, and alternate fifth for the other. That way, it’s clearer and might help with enforcement.
You should file another emergency hearing request so custody can be reviewed and possibly removed. Ask for supervised visitation too. Once you get that order, print it out, call the police for a civil standby, and take the order with you to show them at your ex’s house. That should help.
Do you know how long that process usually takes?
Okay, thanks for the advice. I’m going to be at my attorney’s office bright and early to hopefully get this done tomorrow.