Absent Mother Trying to Come Back

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Texas/Ohio

My husband has JMC of his daughter from a previous marriage. The birth mother gave up custody in 2006 in Texas. She retained parental rights. Step daughter was brought to Ohio to live with a relative who has JMC with my husband. Birth mom has been inconsistant with phone calls since 2006. The longest she went with out contact was about 11 months. Now she is trying to keep contact with my husbands daughter & he would rather that they do not. Since legally she is still her mother, he feels there is not much he can do. He has tried in the past to get the case moved from Texas to Ohio, but with no luck. The other party with custdy claims they have strong bond & "ties to the state" prevent them from moving it. Birth mom talks on the phone with her, but when it comes down to it she will disappear for weeks at a time. My husbands daughter misses her mom dearly & can't understand why we wish she wouldn't have contact with her. She doesn't understand that the mom has some mental health issues & from what we've been told an alcohol problem. My question is: does my husband have a right to prevent contact between them? Again she still has parental rights, but no visitation order at all. Does the fact that she went so long without contact play a role in it? Any advice would be helpful.

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Quoting Carol Lynn Gibson

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My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Texas/Ohio

My husband has JMC of his daughter from a previous marriage. The birth mother gave up custody in 2006 in Texas. She retained parental rights. Step daughter was brought to Ohio to live with a relative who has JMC with my husband. Birth mom has been inconsistant with phone calls since 2006. The longest she went with out contact was about 11 months. Now she is trying to keep contact with my husbands daughter & he would rather that they do not. Since legally she is still her mother, he feels there is not much he can do. He has tried in the past to get the case moved from Texas to Ohio, but with no luck. The other party with custdy claims they have strong bond & "ties to the state" prevent them from moving it. Birth mom talks on the phone with her, but when it comes down to it she will disappear for weeks at a time. My husbands daughter misses her mom dearly & can't understand why we wish she wouldn't have contact with her. She doesn't understand that the mom has some mental health issues & from what we've been told an alcohol problem. My question is: does my husband have a right to prevent contact between them? Again she still has parental rights, but no visitation order at all. Does the fact that she went so long without contact play a role in it? Any advice would be helpful.

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Even without a visitation order, it would be a very bad idea to attempt to deny mom any contact at all with the child.

Quote:

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Quoting Carol Lynn Gibson

---

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: Texas/Ohio

My husband has JMC of his daughter from a previous marriage. The birth mother gave up custody in 2006 in Texas. She retained parental rights. Step daughter was brought to Ohio to live with a relative who has JMC with my husband. Birth mom has been inconsistant with phone calls since 2006. The longest she went with out contact was about 11 months. Now she is trying to keep contact with my husbands daughter & he would rather that they do not. Since legally she is still her mother, he feels there is not much he can do. He has tried in the past to get the case moved from Texas to Ohio, but with no luck. The other party with custdy claims they have strong bond & "ties to the state" prevent them from moving it. Birth mom talks on the phone with her, but when it comes down to it she will disappear for weeks at a time. My husbands daughter misses her mom dearly & can't understand why we wish she wouldn't have contact with her. She doesn't understand that the mom has some mental health issues & from what we've been told an alcohol problem. My question is: does my husband have a right to prevent contact between them? Again she still has parental rights, but no visitation order at all. Does the fact that she went so long without contact play a role in it? Any advice would be helpful.

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Why does the daughter even know about the reasons you and Dad have for not wanting contact? Who decided that was a good idea to even mention it? The child should never be put in the middle like that.

If Mom files, she absolutely WILL get an enforceable visitation order.

Dad needs to tread very carefully here. The last thing he needs is for a judge to think you and he have gone out of your way to thwart Mom's contact.

It's not that we have outright told her reasons that we don't want her to talk to her. His fear is that even though they talk, he knows she is promising her thing we know can not happen. His concern is that his daughter believes the lies her mom tells her. He is concerned this may be doing more harm than good for his child. He just wonders if there is any legal recourse for him to protect his daughter. He doesn't want to keep her from her mother if what little relationship they have is not filled with lies & empty promises. But for now, we know she has problems that are preventing her from being a good parent, so trying to determine if we cut communication for the sake of protecting mental health of his daughter in the long run or continue to allow them to talk & his daughter continue believing the lies she tells her.

Get the daughter in counseling ASAP to learn how to cope with let downs. etc. etc.