SPARC Forums

How much proof is needed to get a protective order actually put into place?

Background: Child is 3 and claims that step great-grandfather is touching her privates.  Mom lives with great-grandfather and great-grandmother in TN and Dad lives in GA with fiancee and fiancee's child.  Parents have joint physical and legal custody, no primary, with 50/50 time split (week on, week off).  Child has been taken to the hospital but there were no physical signs of abuse.  CPS wrote a letter saying that the child should stay in the care of the father since the mother lives with the alleged perpetrator.  Child is also claiming that she told Mom and Mom just told the great-grandfather to not do it any more.  Father was able to get a temporary protective order against both the mother and the great-grandfather.

The hearing is in a week.  The CPS investigation is still going on but they are taking their time (Mom made false sexual abuse allegations against the Dad about a year ago, so they may not be taking these allegations seriously).  Father also just filed contempt against the mother over financial issues so she is probably telling CPS that he is just trying to make her look bad before they go to court.  Child has not had a forensic interview but hopefully that will be done this week.

Mom will probably move in with her mom (grandma) in an attempt to get her visitation back.  However, grandma is a known drug abuser and has men in and out of her house all the time, along with a teenage son that has anger issues.  So this is not an acceptable alternative, IMO.  However, I don't think we can gather any proof of this before the court hearing.

Dad is also concerned about the fact that, according to the child, the mother failed to protect her.  He is worried that she will not restrict visitation between child and great-grandfather since great-grandfather is the one who pays all of her bills (Mom doesn't work or go to school).  He is also worried about the Mom trying to convince the child that nothing happened.  The child has brought up the incident 3 times over the past week so we have no doubt that it actually happened.

What do we need to do to get the judge to order only supervised visitation with the Mom? 

you could try to do something ex parte

So did CPS judge the issue to be founded or unfounded, or is an investigation still ongoing?

Who is doing the forensic interview?

Since father has a letter from CPS recommending that the child stay with the father, he could file an ex parte motion for temporary sole custody with supervised visitation until the investigation is complete, and then go from there based on the outcome of the investigation.

If the investigation comes back "founded" - meaning CPS finds that something did happen, then father should have it put in the orders that child is to have no unsupervised contact with great-grandfather.

How about independent verification of all the allegations that have been made in your post.

What is going to be considered at the hearing next week/this week?

I would go a step further than the CPS investigation being complete... but beg the court to require a custody evaluation (as much as I dislike them) which will include HOME VISITS to determine the appropriateness of the living arrangements.

At this point, pulling out all the stops on a matter such as this might be necessary.