Despite a court order, ex wife is not letting me see my children

[KennyR]

From July 2010 until March 2011, I had regular visitation with my 3 children, ages 5, 8, and 12. But in March of 2011, my ex called DCF about a supposed incident with my oldest son and filed an order of protection against me. I was not allowed any contact with my kids for two weeks. Then when we went to court, the order of protection was modified since DCF deemed the "incident" minor. I was then allowed to see my kids every other Saturday and Sunday from 10-5 provided I was with another adult.

I followed this modified order to a T for three months without any problems, even though my ex filed another false claim with DCF. This one could not be substantiated as my girlfriend was with us the entire time that it supposedly happened and testified to this when interviewed by DCF.

Then on Father's Day, despite the fact that our original custody arrangement stipulated that I would have the kids every Father's Day (just as she would have them every Mother's Day) in spite of whose weekend it was, my ex refused to let me see them that day. Instead, my children spent Father's Day with ex and her fiancee. She generously offered to let me take them to dinner that night, so I took what I could get. My girlfriend and I took them to a restaurant close to my house. It was a busy night, the check came late, and we were running late getting the kids back by about 10 minutes. When we pulled into my parking lot, ex was waiting, fuming mad.

I hugged and kissed my kids goodbye and she took off with them. About five minutes later, my girlfriend and I got into the car to return to her house when out of nowhere, ex's fiancee pulls up beside me in his car. He starts yelling from his car that if I send one more email to ex, he's going to kick my ass. He appeared drunk. Then he demanded that I get out of the car. I told my girlfriend to watch everything and call the police if he hit me. Well, sure enough, he came after me, hitting me several times in the face, chest, and back. He ripped my shirt completely in half. I did not hit him back.

My girlfriend called 911, but BF got back in his car and drove away before an officer arrived. The officer took my statement and then issued a warrant for his arrest. He was later arrested for Assault and Battery.

Since that time, I have not seen my children. Ex is in direct violation of the court order that stipulates I can see my children provided I am with a third party. I filed a Contempt of Custody form against her with the court in Stamford, CT months ago, but won't have my day in court until September 19th. And even then, I don't know if I'll be able to prove my case. She is known as the "Safety Mom", and has used that label as a way to convince counselors, lawyers, and DCF that I am a danger to my kids.

I love my kids and they love me. I am not a danger or a threat to them. I have missed an entire summer of memories with them. I wasn't allowed to spend my son's 13th birthday with him. I didn't get to see my daughter on her 9th birthday. And I don't know if I'll be able to watch as my soon-to-be six-year-old blows out the candles on her birthday cake in November. But what can I do? Ex and her BF are intent on cutting me out of my childrens' lives completely. I feel so powerless to do anything but I can't stop fighting for my rights as a father. I love my children too much, and I know that they need me in their lives.

Does anyone have any advice for me? Is there anything I can do to get the court to force ex to let me see my children again? Any advice would be appreciated.

Sincerely,
Kenny R.

[tigger]

Start gathering documentation of visits prior to interference and then of complying with the new rules.  Others will have more detailed advice but I'm curious.


What caused her to to decide, after 8 months, to remove you from the children's lives?? 

[Kitty C.]

Kenny, I took the liberty of taking out the names in your post.  Given the issues deal with here, it's best that no names are used.  We use a lot of acronyms here and you can access them at this link:

http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/acronyms.php (http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/acronyms.php)