Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
I have primary custody of my 7 year old son. His mother was awarded one weekend a month and the whole summer. She does not communicate with him in any way all year, the proof is in phone records, text records, email records, or the lack of, I should say. When she gets him for the summer, she does not keep him but for a day or two a week, she sends him to her dads house (her father and my mother got married after we got a divorce), I know this because I call and skype him almost daily when he is with the grandparents, and his grandma lets me know when they have him. There is an ongoing DCF case (started 2 summers ago, but the lady in charge was reported by his therapist, his dr, myself, and the dcf worker in my area for being rude and unprofessional, so she didn't do anything. This summer, another case was opened because of the same issues) because my son has stated his maternal uncle has molested him when he was with her.(the maternal uncle was molested by his father, he got expelled from high school for having sex in public at school and got in trouble when he was 12 or 13 for having anal sex with a girl outside her window and they were caught by her parents.) The police where notified and a police report was taken about my sons case. My son's mother does not believe him and continues to allow him to be around when she does have him. The therapist and dcf worker know and say right now we have to wait. Nothing has been done since they have "no proof" Also, my son has identified and I have pictures of a bong within a foot of another child at his mothers house, which she put on her facebook so I just saved them from her site. I reported this to dcf and the police say it isnt enough proof. My son also stated a bong was spilled on him when he was with her, she verified this in a text message and said she was there when it happened. He is now sexually acting out towards other kids. When he does go to her house, he acts out by peeing in plastic bags and throwing them at her, pooping on the kitchen floor, trying to destroy her trinkets in the house on shelves. He cries and begs to not have to go to her house, unfortunately we have been told at this time we can not deny her supervision. When he first comes back, he is very antisocial and jittery in school and at home, once he gets back into the routine of being home he is fine. He often has nightmares of a monster hurting him and crawls into my bed for protection he says, he doesn't do this until after he comes back from summer break. What are the chances I get her visitation switched to supervised visitation?
2 Answers from Attorneys
You need to do two things. Petition for Supervised Visitation - attach and Get a guardian ad litem appointed and also get a psychiatrist to speak with him. The reports from both should show the problems and will be given to the court.
If there are issues they will show up in these reports and you can have her visitation curtailed until a full report is done but at least in the meantime she will only have supervised visitation.
The problem that you will have is that most of what you "know" about what is going on at Mom's is from your son. Although you have some pictures and obviously some actions from your son that would suggest that going to her home is not healthy, you will probably not be able to allow him to testify. It would be the best suggestion to get your son in to see a professional child psychologist, and then that person after seeking your son, could testify on the child's behalf, as to the fact that visitaiton with Mom is not in the best interest of the child. You would file a Supplemental Petition to Modify the Parenting Plan. I would not depend on DCF or his therapist in this case, if they have not yet taken any action. I know a private therapist is expensive, but based on what your saying, it seem like your best investment.
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