Kentucky Supreme Court

[confusedstepmom]

If anyone has any advice to help please let us know.  Here is our story:

In the summer of 2003 when we picked up our son for summer visitation, he informed us that a man was hiding in his mother's house.  He went on to tell us about his mother going out to clubs and fights he had seen.  We didn't know what to say.  Once we reached home we contacted a local child advocate center and they recommended a counselor.  Our son's step father was deployed to Iraq at this time and after the child spoke with the counselor we learned that his mother had been having other men live in their house.  We knew that with just the testimony of what the child was saying we didn't have much of a chance in getting custody.  Our son went back to his mother's house at the end of July.  In October the stepfather returned from Iraq and found out what had been happening from his neighbors.  The boyfriend moved out of the house just hours before the stepdad came home.  The stepdad called us and told us everything that had been going on and then told of us neighbors who were willing to talk to us.  We tape all our conversations.  Multiple neighbors told us of seeing our 7 year old son on the street at night by himself.  They also told us of him sneaking over to their house to get food in the middle of the night.  It was heart wrenching for my husband to know what his son was going through.  We immediately filed for custody.  The trial was long and we had multiple neighbor's testify what they had seen.  These are people we had never met.  We were also interviewed by a court appointed social worker who said if our son saw men in bed with his mother that it would have a terrible emotional impact on him.  The school also testified to the fact that our son had not be brought to school on time many days and how his mother had broughten other men with her to the classroom.  They also testified of how our son would through fits and refuse to get out of the car.  The counselor that saw our son the previous time sent documentation of what he had told her.  In the end the court believed what the mother said and didn't believe what multiple other neighbors and counselors said in the court room  The family court judge ruled it was all just a big drama and the neighbors were just enjoying it.  She ruled that the child stay with the mother.  The stepfather and one neighbor lied in court and said what they had told us on hours worth of tapes was all lies.  The mother had convinced them to take her side.  She convinced the stepdad that the reason she had affairs was because of the way he treated her.  The sad thing is that this is exactly what she had told to my husband when she got pregnant by this step father before my husband and her were even divorced.  She has a history of running around and her medical records indicate she is bi-polar and refuses to take medication.  Because a lot of the infractions took place on a military base it was next to impossible to get all the records from the MPs for the court hearing.  The appeals court ruled that the judgement should stand.  We believe there is some politics involved.  Our attorney is now suggesting that we try and take this before the Kentucky Supreme Court.  Can anyone advise us on what we should do?  I cannot believe how one sided our court systems are in regards to child custody.  The judges basically overlooked 7+ people's testimony and just went off the word of the biological mother.  The mother and step father have now moved and so we will have to begin all over in another state as she continues to break the written orders.   I now understand why so many children are violent and depressed - the courts are not in any way looking out for the best interest of the kids... at least not in Kentucky.

Thanks for any advice or help....

[BlendedFamily]

>The mother and step father have now moved and so we will have to begin all over in another state as she continues to break the written
>orders.  

If BM has broken some of the orginal CO, make sure that you file contempt charges each time that BM does.  If you file enough, it will definitely look bad on her side.

[confusedstepmom]

We have filed contempt before and each time the BM gets a slap on the hand but is never held to the contempt charge, even though she is in blatent failure of following court orders.  Should we keep filing hoping that evidentual the courts will take notice?  

[BlendedFamily]

IMO... if the courts receive enough filings for contempt.. eventually they would have to do something about it or get tired and aggravated about it.  Unfortunately sometimes the courts don't see everyones sides of the stories and what is just on paper.