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The mother moved the child to yet another school. All the school will tell us is that the child is no longer enrolled in any Dayton Public school. We even emailed the Board of education about it, and they said they were only permitted to give out the info they already gave. We only found out what he school he USED to go to was by the court papers from our first hearing last year. WHen the mother found out we had spoken to the child's teacher, she was furious and wanted to know how we found out. Shortly after that, we started having problems getting any information from the school, so we suspect that she made up some BS story to tell the school to keep them from giving out any info. (she was reported for abuse by a previous school district) She was also mad that we had requested all the therapist records, because obviously we can use it against her. She has since changed the child's doctor and therapist too. We have no clue what school, doctor or therapist he is seeing, if any. Being they live in Ohio, and we live in Minnesota, we can't just show up at the old school. We do however, have all the therapist records that he went to last year, and all his last year report cards.

Oh we definately thought about filing contempt, there are several areas of the court order she is not in compliance with...but I have been told that we would have to get her served personally in Ohio (which we can't afford) and then she would be given a free lawyer because contempt CAN carry jail time...and we can't afford a lawyer for ourselves. The MN Statute 518.17 states willful denial of parenting time can be sufficient grounds for custody reversal. I know custody reversal is not easy, probably not even the norm....but the mother has shown a long pattern of denial of parenting time, that she totally disrespects a court order, and in the meantime, the child is still suffering from all this emotional and behavior issues due to his current environment. Our motion hearing for change of custody is 2/14. How would one go about filing a contempt motion on a person who lives out of state? We were told we would file the motion here in MN, but then it would be up to us to get her served in Ohio. I am assuming we have to wait till after the custody hearing to file any contempt motions correct?

I am the noncustodial dad's wife (the stepmom). Here's the dilema...custodial mother has denied my husband parenting time ever since his son was born 8 years ago...they had a very short relationship, that ended before the child was born. The mother would only allow dad to see his son, when it was convenient for her, and usually only when she was present. A child support order was established when the child was one year old, and it only granted dad reasonable visitation. My husband and I met in 6/02, buy end of 7/02 we'd decided to be in a committed relationship. His son spent a weekend at my house, and met my children from a previous marriage. The mother found out her child was at some woman's house with her son's father, and the very next month she moved out of state. My husband was informed of her move after she moved. She refused to give her address. She refused all visitation. We wanted to have the son in our wedding last year, but she refused. She agreed to let us have him for a couple weeks, but then changed her mind, so we filed a motion for a specific visitation schedule.  It has now been almost 3 years since she moved out of state without consent or court order. She has continually interfered with visitation, with phone contact, she refuses to give up the name of the school, his medical information, etc. She refuses to let the child speak to me or his other step-siblings on the phone, in fact she told him that my kids were not his relatives at all. When in fact, the person the child calls his grandpa is his mother's step-father, and her other daughter is his half sister. She has never even met me or my children. I am just the "other" woman, the evil stepmom with the big red bullseye on my forehead. She had nothing but negatives to say during the mediation/investigation. We ended up getting more time than the investigator recommended. The judge obviously read right thru the mother's manipulations. Anyhow, that order was given 4/05. We've only had one actual visitation because the mother wouldn't pay her 1/2 of the airfare, and then for this past holiday season we bought the whole ticket and she didn't put the child on the plane. She thinks she is justified due to her work schedule. Also, since we finally got some visitation after three years, we have found out that the child has been diagnozed with ADHD, has severe emotional and aqgressive behavior issues, that he is not getting is proper medical care, that he lives most the time at his grandfather's due to his mother working the night shift. The schools in the child's district are ALL rated at Academic Emergency, and she has moved him to 3 diff schools in 3 years, has changed his medical doctor and therapist since the last court order, that child has had at least 15 different residences in his 8 yrs, and he lives in the low income part of town (high crime rate). She also has not followed the court order, by not providing us the grandfather's phone number or providing us the school calendar, and denying the visitation. So we decided to file for change of custody, with no lawyer. We can't afford a lawyer. But I have been doing all kinds of reading and reseach online about filing Pro Se. We have a lot in our favor....1) custodial parent's continual interference with visitation 2) custodial parent not following court order 3) child lives in a very unstable home 4) mother not able to spend appropriate time with child 5) child doing poorly in school (in special ed and a year behind) 6) child not getting proper medical care 7) Father CAN allow the mother to have visitation thus allowing the child to have a relationship with both of his parents.  Oh, and the mother was reported for child abuse a couple years ago by a school district, she claims it was unfounded but we can't find any information on the case. And the child has exhibited signs of abuse, and verbally has told us that both his mother and grandpa whip him with a belt frequently. Our big concern now is.....what happens if the mother does not show up for the motion hearing? I know the judge will set an evidentiary hearing.....but can we win default in addition to all the other areas? Is there any advice anyone can give us to help us with this case? Any insight would be most appreciated! We both firmly believe that the child would have a much better opportunity in life living in our household.

Thanks, Frustrated in Minnesota.