Custody

[Lucee]

I am writing for my sister. She and her husband divorced last year in Jan. They have a 6 yr.old child. Her ex-husband used to beat my sister and is also a drug dealer, had  had a girlfriend for the last year of their marriage and literally threw my sister and their  childd out of the house.  He had been living at a summer residence. They came to live with us when he threw them out. My sister signed a joint custody agreement just to get her child to a safe place. She did not have an attorney at that time, she just wanted to get away safely with her child. There was never any visitation set up.  There were other breaches of the divorce agreement so my sister hired a lawyer and filed for full custody along with other things in the divorce agreement. Her ex-husband never called to even ask about the child until 3 days before the court hearing. He has since married the girlfriend, who we found out is a registered child sex offender, has kids of her own that she doesn't even have visitation to. Well the judge ordered visitation to the child, if not my sister goes to jail!!  The judge also ordered a Guardian ad litem for the child. The GAL will not speak to my sister, we have tried to speak to the judge to explain that the exhusband is under investigation, also to no avail. Social services has done studies and recommended that the child not return to the father's house but the GAL and judge will not listen to us. The child has also been under the care of a mental health therapist for the past year because of the mental abuse from the father and seeing him beat her mother. The therapist cannot get to talk to the GAL either. Please tell us who we need to contact to get the child removed from the father's house before she is killed in a drug deal. All help is appreciated.

[Lucee]

I forgot to mention the date of the hearing in my first post. The ex-husband went the full year of 2006 before trying to contact his child. Then it was 3 days before court time. The hearing was the end of Dec.2006 and he made  no attempt whatsoever to see or even talk to the child.  They were married for 8 years so he knew very well where we lived and our phone number.

[Mamacass]

Does your sister have a lawyer now?  If not, she really needs one to sort out what your her options are now.  I know that attorneys will usually tell you you need to follow the court order, like it or not.  However, our attorney has also told us not to leave my SS in a situation that could put him in danger.  (For example, if BM comes to pick up SS and she is drunk, don't let him go whether its court ordered or not.)  

Personally, I wouldn't let my kid go over there.  Between what the child's therapist has to say and what social services has to say, I would think that should be enough to keep you from getting a contempt charge.  But that's just my personal opinion, you would definitely want to ask an attorney.  

As far as the GAL, what has she done?  It sounds like she hasn't done much of anything.  That might be something your lawyer would also want to bring up to the judge.  If the GAL isn't doing anything, she really isn't being a good advocate for the child.  

Also, just a bit of advice- this board doesn't get a whole lot of response.  You would be better off posting to one of the main forum boards.  And Socrateaser is really good for legal questions you have.