Re: advice requested
 

once again - the saga continues....


after all the crap back in june things had settled down. As the agreement in place and signed etc in court of law he got the kids for thanksgiving...

About 2 weeks ago whilst drew(3.5) and landon (2.5) were running backwards and forwards through the appartment drew stumbled into the kitchen island (little mobile one) and caught his ear on a drawer handle... it bled a little and he was fine... next day he had a nice bruise but no problems.


the kids arrived back here last night.

When I got back from work last night we have a nice message from Child Protection Services... apparently he's (jackies ex) reported that we're abusing the kids and they want to schedule a visit... they are coming next monday to examine the house and interview the kids.

It gets worse... today whilst jackie was cleaning up the kitchen drew was sitting playing saying the words over and over "mommie bad, mommie hurt", we're pretty sure he just spent a week being coached to say this by his dad.

anyone ever had this issue before? what can we do? I'm sure the guy is going to arrive and find no issues but jackie is going crazy with worry.

thanks for any advice.

andy & jackie

Re: advice requested
 

Oh, that's just awful, I'm so sorry that you are all going through this. When I was 15, my best friend (without my knowledge) called social services & told them that my mum was beating me. When they came around, I told them the truth & they left us to it, no big deal. Yes, my mum would beat my arse sometimes, but I gave as good as I got, I'd beat her back!!! A couple of weeks later I found out who had done it, I was pretty mad at her. I'm sure everything will be fine, at the end of the day, they don't really want to take your children away, but they have to look into it, if a report is made.

I guess my point is, if they looked the other way on that one (please bare in mind that my mother was a foster parent, although she never hit the foster kids & most of the time I deserved a good beating!), I don't think you've got anything to worry about.

Re: advice requested
 

I would imagine that its time for you to put this issue to bed now by applying for full custody of the children.
Also, I'm not sure how the child protection folks work over here but back in the UK they do not respond to well to receiving malicious reports or being used as a stick for ex-partners to beat each other with. If the visit goes ok I suggest that you speak with the inspector before he/she goes to find out what redress you have and to make them aware that the ex is liable to resort to further trciks in the future.

Good luck

Re: advice requested
 

Yet again I'm thinking how wonderful it would be for a US equivalent of the Citizen's Advice Bureau.

I don't know if you've considered speaking with an attorney....especially one who deals in family law/child custody disputes?

Re: advice requested
 

we have an attourney and he says there is nothing we can do unless they find that the claim made by her ex was done maliciously in order to complicate the divorce... apparently this is VERY hard to prove.

Re: advice requested
 

Damn! Andy I just read this thread, what a nightmare. This guy sounds like a proper nob. Listen mate, I dont know any bounty hunters or anything, but anything I can do do help let me know(IM me). Looks like it's going your way anyways. Good Luck!

Re: advice requested
 

well we had the meeting/exam this morning... the woman examining the kids found ZERO issues that might lead towards this going further, in fact she went so far as to say our conduct in the waiting room (they made us wait 30mins) was exemplary.

She's confident the issue will be closed within the next week.

thanks for all the good will

andy & jackie