Legal Question in Family Law in California
I have joint legal custody of my child, but the mother has primary physical custody. She has shown a history of being unfit as a mother. Recently the children(her daughter and our son) were taken from her custody due to a mental breakdown.
Does that at all affect my rights as the father. I have always been heavilly involved in my son' life. He is where he belongs, with me, but it seems as thought child protective services want to find a reason to keep a dependency case open. We already had an emergency hearing at the children's court. What I thought to be odd was the fact that my son was filed under his older sister's case number, and his mother and I already have an existing case in family law court where incidents of the mother showing to be unfit. It would also show that I've made attempts at showing her to be unfit, as well as failed attempts at getting custody of my son. Child protective services has file a petition for dependency. How can I contest this being that I am the "non offending parent" and have not jepordized nor relinquished any of my parental rights?
1 Answer from Attorneys
When the matter has been referred to dependency court, any decisions there will override a family law court decision. You must immediately retain an attorney to petition the dependency court that custody be awarded to you. Where there is an allegation of abuse both children will be under the same case number. Since you are the non-offending parent and have made prior attempts to protect your son from his mother, you may demonstrate that to the dependency court.
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