My babys mom was arrested for child endangerment. help

[aaa_tow_driver]

my babys mom was arrested in late nov for keeping my son locked in his room with a space heater on.  Her and her ex were fighting and the neighbers called the police when they arrived they found her drunk and argueing with her bf and the police found my son and her other son locked in a room with a space heater on and the room was in the 90's. the children were sweating but ok . when she was asked why the kids were LOCKED in there they were told to keep her oldest  my son from walking around in the middle of the night. now I am a little upset i pay child support and i was never notified untill I saw it on the interenet..   I need some good strong advice on how to handle this sutuation.  I would like to have custody of my son..  this case is in the new bedford family court in mass.

[tigger]

Do you reside in the same county as the child?  How long has she had custody?  Have there been problems before (documented)?  Is the BF the father of the younger son?  If not, how does he feel about what's happened?

[aaa_tow_driver]

she has had him since he was born we were never married.. I was in and out of his life (when she wanted a relationship with me) for the first year and a half.  I have never been the custodial parent she has always been. My son is now three and a half. I moved to fl back with family two years ago due to loss of job stemming from civil injunction she held against me for three months. I now reside in fl.  Her younger son is from a buddy of mine but not the man she has been with for the last year. The man that was in the house was a boyfriend of a year and after some background research he has been arrested for domestic a/b while living at her address..   she has kicked him out and now has a new boyfriend according to facebook. No i have not contested custody in the past due to being afraid of throwing everything i have at it and not winning. as it stands the only time she has let me see him is if im with her and when i say this she wants more then just visits with my son.. I have tried to contact her bf that was kicked out but have not been succesfull. but he as well has been charged with the crime but she was the one on the news and in the papers.

[tigger]

So is the father of the younger child trying for custody as well?

[ocean]

Where is child now? Did social service take children away?
Contact social service and ask to speak to the social worker in charge of this case. You may have to go to a supervisor after that...but start there. Explain you are the father, on birth certificate, and would like custody if children are in foster care...

If you know this other father well, have him do the same thing and you both can file for custody of your own child. If you are out of state from mother, may be more difficult.

[Davy]

This is the reality of the situation.  As the father, you have superior rights to the child over and above the state, an abusive / neglectful parent, and any other living-arrangement the state has placed the child.  Not only do you have a superior right but an obligation and responsibility to protect the child against EVERYONE including the judicial system.  You should know the entire system is stacked against the children and fathers.  The state is financially rewarded by the Federal government to keep the child and do whatever is necessary to reunite the child and the mother so to continue her receiving child support payments.  Social services will likely operate on their own internal social policies which they will contend is gospel.

Your best effort may be to file for custody in a non-DCFS court with a rule-of law type attorney (ie non-status quo custody atty) that is more likely to FOCUS on the child's well-being and that should be your primary FOCUS as well in mind-set and all communication.  It appears from your post the mother has cooked her own goose evident from the criminal charges which you had nothing to do with.

Granted it is a bigger task if you reside in a different state.  On the other hand, if the system worked the way it was intended then you would have been notified to please come and take your child home or, alternatively, you could just waltz into a courtroom and EVERYONE would gleefully welcome you and your presence.

Best to you and your child.     

[aaa_tow_driver]

well ive been in touch with dcf and a attorney. The attorney was utterly (disapointing!!!!) the dcf worker told me that she has the children.  that the case is new to her..  She said over the next 45 days she will be reviewing the situation. She took down my info and told me she would be in touch with me. I am about to sell one of my cars for dirt cheap just to get some funds up..  87 fhp mustang if anyone wants it lol... but the attorney told me not to be hopefull that the state will do everything they can to keep the child with her and that i had a impossible feet in front of me she wanted 4 grand to take the case and I would most likely lose. she told me to do it myself and how to.  (Very nice of her) .  I would like to know more about taking the case outside of family court to a regular court is this possible in the commonwealth of massachusetts.  I see there has been some recent inchoatives for father rights in mass. Does anyone have some attorney names that might be willing to take something like this on. My next plan of action is to go to the family court IN MASS this aint cheap.. lol ..   and file a complaint for custody. and if anyone knows how to fill this out please message me..   
       lastly said I was gravely disappointed by what the attorney said this evening I was  about to just give it up again Untill I looked at this forumn Thank you all for the good advice and encouragement..

[ocean]

You can file in the county she is living in with the children, family court (davy knows more about interstate so wait for him to post too). This will force a judge to make a decision.

So the kids are in foster care??? Call the dss office and ask to speak to the supervisor. Tell them you are able to come get child until future court dates that you want them and not in foster care and what do you need to do. Depending on the worker, you may get somewhere that way.

Lawyer is right though, you have to get up to Mass court room fast. You are asking for temporary custody as mother was arrested on xx date for xx and child is in foster care. Father is fully capable of taking care of child and requests that the court release child from foster care into fathers care as soon as possible. I am not sure but you can even try emergency custody and that you want child with you for Christmas and not in foster care.

At the very least you should come out of court with some type of visitation schedule even if they give custody back to mother. Usually the courts will make her jump through a few hoops, take some classes, finish the classes, and get child back.

[aaa_tow_driver]

 just so its clear i know i can get off track and unclear in my responses.  my babys mother has the children. I believe the night of the incodent they left them with her  boyfriend with the kids and took her to jail.  she still has them. I have never had a custody order as stated above. always worked with her instead of court. as i do not usually prefer the police and court as friends since they have cost me so much..  I am now ready to go to court seeing as the recent events i no longer feel she is a good mother for my child. Me and my fiance are due in feb for a little girl and. and  he is more than welcome in my central florida home thirty mins from disney. Please a little more advice and inspiration please..

than you to everyone in this forumn Ive only been here two days and i already feel at home.

[ocean]

Oh sorry..misunderstood who "she" was.

Okay, little harder. Since they did not take child out of home, then they must feel child is no longer in danger. You can still get custody and visitation rights but it will be a hard case to win custody. Since child is not school age yet, you can ask for some longer visits. Go for it all-joint custody and parenting plan that is very detailed with dates and times when you can. The child is young but you can still try to get a week or two together. If mom is having some issues she may welcome the break. Start documenting and making a nice binder with everything that has been going on. Get copies of child's medical file if you know the dr, see if you can get a police report or arrest record on her. Family court in most cases does not use common sense. Many judges do not change custody to another state without major issues going on (some of what you have).

Still, find her county family court, look online, many states have their forms online. Ask for joint custody, you start for asking you having primary placement as mother has been arrested for child endangerment. By the end of it, either you will have custody or there will be a set schedule of when you have child and you will not rely on her anymore. At the same time, she can ask for state child support so if you are not paying guideline support, get ready to do that.

[Davy]

I'm a little confused.  You mentioned the case is in family court.

It seems the state would have a great interest to protect the children and prosecute the arrested BM in a criminal court especially since the offenses appear to be multiple and continual (ie child walking around in the middle of the night) and involves more than one child.

It also appears the BM should be substantially supervised when provided access to the children.

BTW, did the space heater operate with dangerous fossil fuels ??