Help for my sister in law

[IceMountain]

My sister-in-law is having some trouble.  Here is a little background:

'Sue' and 'Tom' were never married.  They have 1 son together who is 8.  The two of them split about a year ago.  BF seldom pays child support.  BM seldom lets son see his BF.  In my opinion neither one is interested in the best interest of the child.  They both reside in Iowa.

BF has a GF who also has children.  Her daughter, who is 9, was sexually abused.  (I don't know when or by who).  It appears that during a weekend visitation about a month ago my nephew was fondled by the 9 year old girl.  The school and police have been brought into the situation and investigated the incident the very next day.  The little girl was blaming my nephew.  It has now come out that this has happened to my nephew before and that his dad warned him not to tell his mom.

My sister-in-law is livid that her son was told not to tell and that her ex did not take the proper measures to protect him from future abuse.  (the kids were playing alone upstairs when the incident happened).

My sister-in-law has retained a lawyer but was told that she really can't do anything as far as the little girl is concerned.  She would like to have supervised visits.  She was told that will likely not happen.  She would like some type of restraining order but was told they can't do anything becuz of the child's age.

Does she have any options to protect her child?  There are currently no visitation orders in place.  I understand both children are victims here, but a pattern of abuse has been set and nobody wants it to continue.  Her lawyer's retainer was just way too cheap and made me suspicious from the beginning.  Is there anything more he can be doing for her?  The BF and GF are planning to get married next year so this is a 'somewhat permanent' situation.

[wendl]

Do BF and GF live together???


**These are my opinions, they are not legal advice**

[MixedBag]

you have a pm

[IceMountain]

Legally speaking, no.  The GF is on state aid so he can't legally live there but he is.

[flewwellin]

IMO she should go to court on the basis of filing for sole custody, because of the sexual abuse that is caused by this 9 year old.  And the father of the boy is negligent and should be acused of such with the Department of child services in the county that this happened in.  Let them reinvestigate this sittuation.  And also you can have the social worker made to come to court and testify about the sittuation as a professional.  DOn't let her sister in law sit there and do nothing about it.