- last post: 01.01.0001 12:00 AM PDT
My wife is in America (PA) with her mother and 10 year old sister. I'm currently in the UK and have grown up here so I don't have much knowledge of the American legal system.
(Long) Summary:
- Mother has custody of 10 year old child (living in PA)
- Father has access rights during certain holidays (in NY)
- During her last visit to the father (July 08) the child was thrown out of the house at 4am and locked outside on her own
- Police were called to the house by the father's mother (who was in the house when this happened) & neighbours
- Police found the girl outside alone
- The girl was taken home (to her mother in PA) by the father's mother the next day
- The mother contacted Legal Aid (cannot afford any other attorney)
- They said they cannot open a new case against the father
- They could do nothing regarding him throwing the child out at 4am UNLESS the father opens a new case against the mother
- This seems utterly retarded
- Contacted police in NY & PA to get copies of the reports from that night
- Police in NY cannot give them to the mother as she is in PA
- Police in PA cannot get hold of the reports for as they are in NY
- Contacted Social Services in NY & PA
- They cannot help until the child has been physically hurt (with marks to show it)
Father made no contact since then so the mother didn't pursue it any further as:
a) No one seemed interested or capable of helping
b) During the child's last visit he said he never wanted to see her again
- A few days ago the grandmother (father's mother) starts emailing the child's mother saying she is coming to pick the child up for her holiday visit on 27th Dec
- The grandmother was on a court order (issued in 2004) as having access to the child
- The grandmother voluntarily had herself removed from the court order in 2006 saying she was too weak and feeble to care for the child
- The father has made no contact since the incident in July
- As it stands the grandmother has no legal right to see the child or take her away
- If the father turns up with the grandmother on 27th the only evidence we have is a court order stating that he has access to her during holidays as we cannot get copies of the police reports
I've spent several hours today playing phone tag with various organisations in the US trying to find someone who can do something, these were all conference calls with either me & my wife or me & the child's mother on the phone:
- Called their local police department
- told that there is nothing they can do as it stands
- advised to not open the door to the grandmother or father if they turn up to collect the child
- said they will come if we call them when the grandmother/father are outside
- Called the office of Ron Miller (the representative for her local Senator)
- told that they don't deal with legal matters
- they "understand our concern"
- told to seek legal advice
- Called Legal Aid in PA
- they said the original case was closed
- the mother has to come to them in person to re-apply for legal aid
- after this they will let her talk to an attorney (this is what she did after the incident, which resulted in them saying they could not open the case again)
- told to contact social services
- Called the Department of Public Welfare
- told to contact Children in Youth who might be able to issue a PFA (protection from abuse order)
- Called Children in Youth
- they said they can't help as there has been no physical abuse
- Called the local police department again
- spoke to a different person than the earlier call
- again said they couldn't do anything but would send an officer round to talk to the mother and child
- the officer phoned instead of coming round
- he reiterated that they could not do anything at the moment
As Legal Aid said the mother could reapply and speak to someone she is going there on Wednesday (can't get there any earlier as no transport & taxi ride is like $50 each way).
Apart from this I have no clue what else we can do.
No one seems to give a damn that poor kid was thrown out at 4am in the morning and according to the current court order he's perfectly entitled to come and take her into that environment again.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated as we really have no idea where to go from here.