Custodial Parent is Not Following Court Order, Unfit Living Conditions
My question involves a child custody case from the State of Maine.
My boyfriends ex has residential custody of their 5 year old son. (We live in New Hampshire) Up until 2006 there was no custody order, she filed for custody and some how got it. We received visitation every other Thursday - Sunday. We meet her halfway.
Since then he has had lice over 7 times. He stinks so bad I can't breathe the whole car ride home. It takes about 6 baths to get him smelling clean. She did live in her own apartment and was a CNA. Then she moved in (2007) with her boyfriends grandmother to help care for her after about 3 months her boyfriend kicked her out, so she moved in with her mother. After about 2 months she moved into a trailer or camper as her son calls it and he lived with friends of hers. Then she moved into her mothers house again. Now her and her boyfriend live with his parents and 2 other siblings in a two bedroom trailer.
First thing is, that she is supposed to give 30 day notice before moving and inform us of her new address. up until the last time she never said a word, her son would tell us when he was with us and then we would ask. also she lost her job as a cna and now is a waitress at a little diner working 1 day a week.
second, my boyfriend is supposed to call at minimum 1 time a week to talk to his son, but she has had 6 different phone numbers (cells) since oct 08 and now she has no phone at all. we are supposed to pick him up tomorrow but have no way to contact her.
third, she put him at age 4 on ADD medication without talking to my bf which is a stipulation of the court agreement. and we dont even know who the doctor is she jsut gives a name of a doctors office but no specific doctor and my boyfriend is not listed as the father at the doctors or the preschool.
Also in november of 2008 we had to take him to the emegency room two visits in a row because he has pin worm and a fungul infection on his behind from not being clean. She was supposed to take him after the first time to his doctors and before we got him she said it was all cleared up. he was bleeding and we had to go back to emergency room
we have called dhhs and they were supposed to do a well child check but never did.
then we ended up having him for 47 days in a row. she did not even get him for christmas because she would call the day before we were supposed to meet every week and say she didnt have a ride.
we have also found out that on weekends she said she couldnt meet us she has come down to nh and then gone right through our town and farther to his parents house and robbed him of weekends while visiting with his family.
what can we do?? the poor kid has no idea where he lives, he has no bed he sleeps in the living room with her and her boyfriend, and is filthy and supposedly he is still on medication but she never sends it with him for the weekends.
HELP
Re: Custodial Parent is Not Following Court Order, Unfit Living Conditions
What your BF needs to do is go back to court with ALL of the documentation of her breaking the court orders and file for sole custody.
Re: Custodial Parent is Not Following Court Order, Unfit Living Conditions
that is what we decided but we are worried about his son now and the conditions he is in. he has very bad asthma and all the adults in the trailer smoke. when i went to the bathroom there it was like a scene from a movie with a smoky skeezy bar. how can we get dhhs to do a well child check or get emergency custody? do we have to go to maine or can we file for emergency custody here in nh?!
Re: Custodial Parent is Not Following Court Order, Unfit Living Conditions
Quote:
Quoting
lildbourassa523
that is what we decided but we are worried about his son now and the conditions he is in. he has very bad asthma and all the adults in the trailer smoke. when i went to the bathroom there it was like a scene from a movie with a smoky skeezy bar. how can we get dhhs to do a well child check or get emergency custody? do we have to go to maine or can we file for emergency custody here in nh?!
Is the home a big mess?
If it is, your BF can try something a friend of mine did and it worked for him. He went to pick up his daughter, while at her home, he decided to take a few pictures of HER. He did get pics of her, but he framed the photos so that it also showed the mess, including dog feces on the floor. he then took the pictures to CPS and asked them to check the home out. Since he had pictures, they went right away.
Maybe your BF can try the same thing. Either way, it sounds like he needs to contact CPS again.
Is the court order in Maine?
If it is then he'll have to file there since that is his son's legal residence. He really should hire an attorney, but if he can't he should gather up all of his documentation and get a consult with one before he files pro-se.
Re: Custodial Parent is Not Following Court Order, Unfit Living Conditions
They don't usually allow us in the house. I always have to "go to the bathroom" when we get there. But usually we are supposed to meet at the Maine mall. So we dont get to their house that quickly. Even with the ER visits and papers CPS still didnt do anything. Ya its through maine which is a pain because its 4 hours away to the court house that we have to go through. What happens when she leave nathan here for 47 days in a row? can we then file in NH for child abandonment?