Will My Ex Get Custody Back After My Deployment

[rman79]

My question involves child abuse or neglect in the State of: West Virginia.

I am in the Army and will be deployed next month.

Six months ago, my ex was in a drunk driving accident with my kids in the car. They were removed from her home and placed in foster care. She told CPS that she didn't know where I was (I am stationed in Texas, she knows that), so my kids (my daughter and her step sister who isn't my biological child, but I call her my daughter) were in foster care for three weeks before CPS got ahold of me.

I live in the barracks so I couldn't have the girls come and live with me right away. So my parents went through finger printing and foster care classes to get guardianship of the girls until I could set up a home for them. Then I got notice of deployment. My parents have the girls now and they're doing great and have started a new school. My parents had to go through classes because one of the girls isn't a blood relative.

My ex has not had her trial yet for the accident, but at a pre-trial hearing last month, my lawyer showed the judge our custody arrangement. It says that if my ex isn't able to take care of the girls, I receive custody of my daughter (it doesn't mention her sister, but I love her like my own). The judge threw out the custody arrangement and said that circuit court overrules family court, and they're not giving me custody since I can't take care of the girls. Which I understand since I'm leaving soon. But they gave my ex 90 more days of improvement time (they gave her 90 days over the summer, and she ended up back in jail on a drug charge). So she was let out of jail last month and has 90 additional days to go to rehab, attend parenting classes, etc...

The first thing she did was move back in with her other ex husband who has a felony drug charge conviction. He is not the bio father of the other girl. CPS says that this is okay because she is going to rehab and taking steps to get the girls back. How can this be okay? if she gets the girls back, they will be living with a felon????

I feel like I don't have any rights. My lawyer has pretty much stopped fighting for me since the judge threw out our custody agreement and since I'm deploying, I don't have the time or money to hire a new lawyer. Is there anything I can do?

Thanks.

[Dogmatique]

You need to invoke the SCRA - soon.

This protects you from custody being decided without your presence.

What does your Family Care Plan say? Do you have your parents listed?

When is the next hearing?

[llworking]

You need to invoke the SCRA - soon.

This protects you from custody being decided without your presence.

What does your Family Care Plan say? Do you have your parents listed?

When is the next hearing?

I am going to disagree a little...

This appears to be a case where CPS has taken the children. They did not feel that dad was suitable for placement because he was deployable and lived in the barracks, so they were placed with the grandparents on a kinship care basis. That really doesn't make the custody/parenting time orders between dad and mom null and void, it just overrides them for the period of the dependency case.

CPS's primary mandate will be to reunite the children with their mother, assuming that their mother jumps through all of the necessary hoops. If mom and the children are reunited then dad's existing orders should continue on. If mom blows it and the children remain with the grandparents things for dad can be sorted out later. If CPS moves to terminate parental rights then that is where things will get sticky and dad will need the SCRA invoked. However, one cannot invoke SCRA for temporary situations brought on by the deployment, so there is nothing to invoke right now.

[rman79]

There is no doubt that CPS wants to reunite them with their mother. She's been given so many chances. The next hearing is November, but I'll be gone by them. She still hasn't had her criminal hearing, so I don't know what her punishment will be for the actual DUI.

I just can't stand the thought of the kids living with a convicted felon and a mom who could have killed them while drinking and driving. I guess I just have to wait and see if she can get her act together since I don't really have a say in any of this.

[Dogmatique]

I am going to disagree a little...

This appears to be a case where CPS has taken the children. They did not feel that dad was suitable for placement because he was deployable and lived in the barracks, so they were placed with the grandparents on a kinship care basis. That really doesn't make the custody/parenting time orders between dad and mom null and void, it just overrides them for the period of the dependency case.

CPS's primary mandate will be to reunite the children with their mother, assuming that their mother jumps through all of the necessary hoops. If mom and the children are reunited then dad's existing orders should continue on. If mom blows it and the children remain with the grandparents things for dad can be sorted out later. If CPS moves to terminate parental rights then that is where things will get sticky and dad will need the SCRA invoked. However, one cannot invoke SCRA for temporary situations brought on by the deployment, so there is nothing to invoke right now.

Ignorance (mine) aside, I'm now almost agreeing with you. This obviously isn't the usual SCRA case, but the fact that his parents had guardianship is important.

But I think you're going in the right direction.

Apologies for muddling the issue.

[llworking]

Ignorance (mine) aside, I'm now almost agreeing with you. This obviously isn't the usual SCRA case, but the fact that his parents had guardianship is important.

But I think you're going in the right direction.

Apologies for muddling the issue.

I don't think that his parents have guardianship, I think that was poor wording on the OP's part. I think that they have kinship care placement in lieu of a foster home.

[rman79]

Yes. Kinship care placement. Sorry. I thought they were the same thing.

- - - Updated - - -

Thank you by the way.