How Can I Get Custody of My Children

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: fl
I am the non custodial parent of my 2 children (6 and 5 years old). I am not positive that custody has been determined, however I am paying child support. Recently the children have been expressing interest of staying with me more often than every weekend. I want to have custody of them due to the unsanitary and unhealthy environment of their mother's home. There are holes in the floors, walls and doors. All of the windows are broken. There are roaches and rats. Exposed electrical outlets. My daughter had lice from May to December of last year and now they both have it again. My daughter had a major outer ear infection just 2 weeks ago. We finally took her to a specialist that suggested that we remove her tonsils and adenoids. Both children struggle in school and a major part of the reasoning why is because their mother has issues speaking properly. Her current boyfriend actually had a court ordered restaining order for my son because he got physically violent with him. DCF was called on their mother 4 times in 3 months but they do not seem to care. We are now spending every other week (for the full week) with them. I need to know what I have to do in order to get custody of children before something terrible happens to them. Please help us!

Have you contacted social services to have them look in on Mom's living conditions?

yes. We call it DCF here. they don't care. we have evidence, pictures of them being neglected etc

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Quoting jthm

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yes. We call it DCF here. they don't care. we have evidence, pictures of them being neglected etc

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Then if they haven't seen fit to remove the children, it will be nigh on impossible to convince the court that the children are in danger of being abused or neglected.

How long as the week on/off situation being going on?

in the last 34 days we have had the kids for 29 days. we are going to keep this up in the following weeks

You need a whole lot longer than a few weeks in order to switch custody based on a new status quo.

Try 6 months.

thats what we were figuring.

who is we?

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Quoting CourtClerk

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who is we?

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Too easy ;)

i never said i wanted them all to myself. I just want them to live in an environment that allows them to be healthy and not be afraid of going to the bathroom because there is a gigantic hole in the floor in front of the toilet. I WANT them to love their mother. I WANT them to spend time with their mother. I just want them to live with ME and my WIFE in a SAFE environment.

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not to mention if you want to get technical, I never wanted children at the time. I was tricked into it. twice. Their mother told me she was on birth control the first time. The 2nd time she would hide the pills, as i watched her take them, under her tongue then spit them in the toilet or down the drain in the sink.

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Quoting jthm

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i never said i wanted them all to myself. I just want them to live in an environment that allows them to be healthy and not be afraid of going to the bathroom because there is a gigantic hole in the floor in front of the toilet. I WANT them to love their mother. I WANT them to spend time with their mother. I just want them to live with ME and my WIFE in a SAFE environment.

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I find it somewhat difficult to believe that DCF has apparently investigated this allegedly unsafe environment and not acted.

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not to mention if you want to get technical, I never wanted children at the time. I was tricked into it. twice. Their mother told me she was on birth control the first time. The 2nd time she would hide the pills, as i watched her take them, under her tongue then spit them in the toilet or down the drain in the sink.

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Oh come on now. Get over it.

you can believe me or not. My son was pushed to the ground and called and i quote "a ****ing nigger". my ex posted it on facebook. someone called DCF. they came out to investigated and made her file a restraining order on her boyfriend for the safety of my son. at his hearing she asked for it to be lifted. The next time DCF was involved both my wife and I were there. They told her she had 24 hrs to fix the place up and get food in the fridge. her boyfriend refused to "lend" her some money to get food because the kitchen was bare. They told her to tape cardboard over the exposed electrical wiring. I asked the caseworker "Isn't that a fire hazard?" she replied "at least the children can not play with the wires. The child's safety is out main concern" to which I said, "you're right. they'll be perfectly safe when the trailer is burning to the ground" she said "we've seen worse" I was so frustrated and appalled. i asked what i had to do to bring the kids over to my home. she told me i would have to go through the courts. they simply do not care.

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Quoting jthm

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i never said i wanted them all to myself. I just want them to live in an environment that allows them to be healthy and not be afraid of going to the bathroom because there is a gigantic hole in the floor in front of the toilet. I WANT them to love their mother. I WANT them to spend time with their mother. I just want them to live with ME and my WIFE in a SAFE environment.

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not to mention if you want to get technical, I never wanted children at the time. I was tricked into it. twice. Their mother told me she was on birth control the first time. The 2nd time she would hide the pills, as i watched her take them, under her tongue then spit them in the toilet or down the drain in the sink.

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Are you kidding me? Birth control is not just the woman's responsibility. You were NOT tricked into having children. If you "never wanted children," then you should have tried either being responsible for contraception yourself or not having sex. Moms don't get themselves pregnant. That's biologically impossible.

And FYI, lice do not inhabit dirty hair, they inhabit clean hair. If your children got lice, that means they had exceptionally clean hair.

(shortie - the lice thing is a myth. Lice don't care. They'll go with dirty or clean hair)

http://biotech.law.lsu.edu/cphl/Prac...e/hl-myths.htm

:)

(And I agree with every other bit of your post!)

In that case, if they go with either kind of hair, then that still means that kids having lice doesn't prove that they're being neglected.

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Quoting shortie

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In that case, if they go with either kind of hair, then that still means that kids having lice doesn't prove that they're being neglected.

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Absolutely agree. 10000% per cent. Though repeated infestations are occasionally considered to be an issue by child services.

And what says they are getting them at home? What about school?