What Outcome Should I Expect in My Custody Case?
Question by TravelingMommy: What outcome should I expect in my custody case?
My abusive Ex-husband and I are in the child custody phase of our divorce. He has been arrested 7 times for abusing me and 1 time for cruelty to a child on our daughter. The court has awarded him supervised visitation and warned him if he did not maintain his sobriety and keep his visit schedule he would suffer greatly in the case. Up until our last court date he had kept all of his scheduled visitation, however has been photographed and eye witnessed very intoxicated on a weekly basis. When he is under the influence he calls at all hours of the night night demanding to speak to the our 3 year old daughter, and verbally abusing me over the phone. At our last court hearing his visitation was increased to 2 times per week still supervised. He canceled the very first visit after the hearing claiming he had a “family emergency” About 1 week after the “family emergency” I noticed he had posted pictures on his web blog of him doing beer bong races and refereeing and oil wrestling match. The photographs were date stamped for the day of the missed visit. He has since only schedule 2hrs. of visitation out of 48 potential hours. since we last went to court. Our daughter is becoming very emotional because she “never get to see daddy”. I encourage “healthy” telephone conversations for her and daddy, however I recently had to end a call abruptly because he was telling her “I’m sorry mommy doesn’t let you see me, I’m crying for you” causing her to cry hysterically and act out against me for most of the remainder of the day. Recently our daughter was diagnosed with a genetic disorder and requires medications. Some of which are not covered by her health insurance. I have called and all but begged her father to help pay for the associated cost of the prescriptions but he boldly refuses. We are due back in court on 10/20/09 for the judge to make a final ruling on the custody portion of our divorce. Do I have the right to request the court denies any visitation? Or how will the father’s behavior in this case effect the outcome?
Allow me to clarify the situation. The father in this case had convinced the court, childrens services and mediation that he had been sober from alcohol and drugs since before easter of 2009. When attending mediation 2 weeks ago I presented the mediator with the photos disproving his so call “family emergency” and “Sobriety” the mediator was very disappointed because he had been so convincing in his seperate mediation appointment. The father in this case is an illegal alien, and repeated abuser. He has been caught drinking and driving by mutiple family members with our daughter in the car. I am extremely terrified of what may happen if he is allowed to continue visitation with our daughter. When attending mediation the mediator kept pushing for me to agree to a trial period of unsupervised visitation.
He has also been convicted of multiple DUI offenses and has 2 other children that he has cut off all relations with.
He is also using his new girlfriend (our ex-daughters pre-school teacher) as a witness in his defense. My problem with that is, she knowingly is encouraging his drug and alcohol abuse by participating in the behavior with him. Is her credibility as a preschool teacher witness damaged because she is also pictured in the photos participating in the wreck-less behavior?
Best answer:
Answer by jessy1978
Good Luck. Wish I or anyone could tell you what the outcome of this might be. In a perfect world he would wise up and be a good parent and the judge and everyone would see him for who he is right now and force him into treatment as a way to see your child. but this isn’t a perfect world and courts make mistakes. If it was me I would try to get him deported but that would probably mean he would never see your daughter again. Good luck.
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