Mother Emotionally Unavailable

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: California

Hi Everyone, I am the father of a 17yr old daughter and share joint legal and physical custody of her. Recently she has had some emotional troubles and started cutting. She went to her mother and I separately and told us about it and the reasons behind it. There was some issue between her best friend and a boy. Typical teenage stuff that got way to serious. My daughter asked to go to counseling and I set that up for us all to go to support her. About a week ago her mother wanted to talk to her more about the issue. My daughter said she didn't feel like talking about the issue at the moment. Her mother persisted until the two of them were yelling and screaming at each other. My Daughter became fearful of her mother and left the house and texted me. A friend of hers picked her up and brought her to me because my family and I were bowling when all of this happened. I called her mother and told her that I had our daughter and that she was safe and sound. Her mother proceeded to launch into an abusive tirade towards her daughter and kept harrasing her and myself for the next few hours. I tried to explain to her to just stay calm and not take this personally. If she could stay calm and talk to our daughter without going insane that hings will work out. After continuing the tirade, my daughter told her mother that she does not wan tto come home or be under the same roof as her right now. My ex-wife took that to mean forever and has continued to harras and say hurtful things to our daughter. When I spoke with my ex about this, she said I was angry, so what! Her text, not mine. She also said that she wanted to make our doughter feel the pain that our daughter was putting her through. As a parent, I am appalled by this and will do nothing less than protect my child from this type of abuse and any other type of abuse. My ex-wife has left nasty voicemails and even told our daughter that she was nothing to her. All of this right after our first counseling appointment.

I guess my question is, what type of action can I take to protect my child? She has already stated to me that she would prefer to stay at my house permanently. Where do I go from here?

P.S. I forgot to mention that my ex and my daughter didn't really begin to have issues until our son left for the Marine Corp. He was the buffer that helped my daughter cope when she was at her moms because she coudl talk to him rather than try to get her mother to get her nose out of her IPAD long enough to really pay attention to her.

Being "emotionally unavailable" is not child neglect.

This is not a child abuse or neglect issue.

If you want to petition the custody court to modify the existing custody order, you can explore that option.

May'be not, but what if it the issue is Narccistic Personality Disorder that is causing the the unavailability. Couldn't it be contsrued as neglect if it is affecting your childs demeanor and actions. I understand that not everything is cut and dry, but here has to be some sort of presedence in situations like this.

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May'be not, but what if it the issue is Narccistic Personality Disorder that is causing the the unavailability.

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Being mentally ill isn't considered child neglect, either.

The issue that is affecting your child's demeanor and behavior is called "Being a Teenager". EVERYTHING during the teen years is full of angst and melodrama. Even children in perfectly stable and happy homes often turn to self-harm to "feel something, feel anything". Continue with the counseling sessions and have her evaluated for anxiety and depression disorders.

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Quoting jming89

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May'be not, but what if it the issue is Narccistic Personality Disorder that is causing the the unavailability. Couldn't it be contsrued as neglect if it is affecting your childs demeanor and actions. I understand that not everything is cut and dry, but here has to be some sort of presedence in situations like this.

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And where did you get your degree in psychiatry?