Going for Full Custody

**Substantiated** · 07-01-2012, 10:07 AM

I live in Canada - I know this is a US forum but this is more of a question of chance then anything else.

My daughter has lived with me since November 2011. My daughter just turned 2 (June 4th). My daughters name is Sophie, and my ex gf's (mother to Sophie) name is Taylor. Taylor and I have joint custody, but Taylor has sole care provider through court order. Taylor is diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder, she gets destructive when she becomes angry - her therapist has detailed notes, she also is very depressed and thinks of suicide often.. also in therapists notes. She has no connection with Sophie (has been noted by therapist).

Sophie started living with me because Taylor told me through texts that she doesnt want to be a mom, she doesnt want to be involved with Sophies life because Sophie will just grow up to hate Taylor, I have text messages from Taylor's mother saying she doesnt want Taylor alone with Sophie and that she wouldnt trust Taylor to raise a gerbal let alone a child. I also have text messages from Taylor saying, and I quote, "I'm going to murder this little cunt.. Your taking her.. I'm getting her dressed and coming over.. You better take this little whore before I kill her." I have more text messages saying if I dont take Sophie shes going to call cas (Childrens Aid Society) on herself. I have even more text messages of her saying "Call me when the attention grabbers in bed" and other text messages of the like. I have messages from her saying that she needs to smoke weed or she is going to snap - and that she wants to drive her car off the side of the mountain. Taylor has also said in text message and to her therapist that she has no connection with Sophie. I have screen shots of the text messages and I also have the ones I feel are important to me getting custody printed out on paper.

Ok, so the situation goes as follows.. Taylor can not be alone with Sophie - she always needs someone there.. Taylor has said to me and to her therapists that she doesnt know what to do an that she feels like something bad is going to happen when it's just Taylor and Sophie alone together. I took Sophie to live with me, since November, because as you can obviously see Taylor is highly unstable and Sophie is not safe with Taylor. Taylor has child care subsidy and collects welfare with Sophie on her check - she was, in other words frauding the government when I had possession of Sophie in my care since November. The only access to Sophie Taylor took upon herself is to pick her up from my place in the morning and drive Sophie to day care, and pick her up from day care and drop her off to me. I allowed this to happen because this is all Taylor can handle - a few seconds of a drive to and from day care, it didn't bother Taylor because she knew she would only have to be with Sophie for a brief moment. She would drop her off an then just leave. She wouldn't call or spend time with her on the weekends. Sophie doesnt behave or listen to Taylor - and she clings on to me when Taylor is around.. Sophie doesnt cry when Taylor drops her off - Sophie doesnt seem to care if Taylor is around or not. Taylor has said Sophie is better off with me and that Sophie wouldn't be the good little girl she is today if she lived with Taylor. Taylor lied to her therapist on May 8th, saying Sophie lives with her so she can get therapeutic child care subsidy an so she can collect more money on her disability check with Sophie on it.

Recently, Taylor didn't return Sophie from daycare. Taylor called me asking if she can come grab all of Sophies things - Taylor told me she wasnt returning Sophie. I had to call emergency C.A.S. and I told them Sophie isn't safe being with Taylor. They said I would have to go through a lawyer to get Sophie back since Taylor has sole care provider through court order. I called the police and they came to make a report - I showed them the text messages of Taylor saying shes going to murder Sophie an that she doesn't want to be a mom. They put that in their report. They told me they couldn't go to where Sophie was staying and just take her because there was a court order in place. All they could do was go to where Sophie was staying to see if she was alright and the environment she was in is safe. When they went to check on Sophie - Taylor lied (shes a pathological liar, its part of her BPD) saying I had told Taylor to come take Sophie back and that I've only had Sophie since April 2012. The date is inconsistent as to what Taylor told her therapist on May 8th and I plan on bringing this up to the lawyer. The only proof I have of having Sophie since November 2011 is family, I live with my mother because she helps me raise Sophie, and I also have one member, who wants nothing to do with Taylor because of how messed up and unstable she is with Sophie, on her side of the family. The next day I went to go get the police report, which its being mailed to me as we speak. I had made an appointment with a lawyer for July 9th. Cas is going to do a follow up with Taylor and they had told me they might want to see how Sophie interacts with Taylor an than with me. Taylor is broke and I believe she only wants Sophie for the money, I collect the baby bonus and everything else - except the welfare because I work. I had received a letter in the mail from Taylor's welfare saying they are looking for child support - so I had to report Taylor to the fraud line because she was collecting welfare with Sophie on it even though Sophie lived with me, the same goes for her child care subsidy.

My question is, what are my chances of me getting full custody for my daughter Sophie? Could I get supervised access for Taylor? It feels like all hope is lost since CAS and the police couldn't do anything.. my last hope is a lawyer. I'm bringing up the fact that Taylor is unstable as an individual and is diagnosed mentally ill and to check her therapists notes for proof. Sophie, clearly proven by the text messages, is not safe being with Taylor.

**LawResearcherMissy** · 07-01-2012, 04:26 PM

The courts don't work on chances, they work on facts, and as you are already aware, we are a US law forum. It would be irresponsible of anyone here to hazard a guess for you.

For matters of Canadian, you might try here.

**Substantiated** · 07-02-2012, 08:23 AM

I found a Canadian law forum and here's what they had to say:

"I wish to inform you that court considers best interest of child as main consideration. In this regard you can have child custody based upon the fact that mother cannot take care of child because of her medical condition. Further past message can also be argued in court. You may present all evidence to show that custody with mother is against interest of child."

Thanks for taking the time to look at my thread anyway.