Legal Question in Family Law in Kentucky
my names andrew king. im 16 years old. please dont stop reading just because im 16 i really need your help. My girlfriend is 14 getting ready to turn 15 weve know each other for 2 years and have been dateing now for almost 9 months. Her parents treat her worse then they treat there dog, that stays outside on a 3 ft chain and is lucky to get food 4 times a week. Her dad has been reported for child abuse before when he punched her in the mouth and got off with a warning. sience then things have turned more verbal. he makes her feel worthless and like shes nothing. She crys herself to sleep almost every night over something her dad says to her. Shes thought about killing herself 3 times now and cut herself once and still has the scar. Her mom is a wonderful lady and i love her to death, but because of the past physical abuse and the current verbal abuse shes to scared of him to do anything. She has an aunt and uncil who love her more then anything in the world, and consider her there child because her mom and dad are horrible parents. Her aunt wants to adopt her to get her out of there but her parents wont sign the papers needed and her dad says awful things to her for even asking him too. Her dad has also said some stuff directly to me as well. i had surgery about 5 months ago because i blew out my knee. just 2 weeks after surgery he saw me in my wheel chair and he told me if i didnt watch myself he would break my other knee. and i literally didnt do anything, i was just sitting there waiting on my mom to pick me up. If youve read this far, you still really dont even know how bad this really is. you would have to know her to see the whole thing. How can her aunt adopt her without her dad haveing to sign papers?
I mean, shes very mature for her age. This last term in school she had all As and one B+ has never gotten into any kind of trouble, and is one of the nicest people you will ever meet to come from a family with such a pathetic father if you would even want to call him a father. Her dad makes her ask him before shes allowed to eat because she dosent want her "eating the food he paid for unless she asks".
Im talking to her right now actually and she can hardly talk shes crying so hard over something hes done. i dont have the full story yet. but shes all the time talking about how she hates her life, hates her home life, wants to die, wants to kill herself and she says shes going to run away if her aunt cant adopt her.
we just really need your help. please
1 Answer from Attorneys
Probably the best thing to do in this moment and in view of the situation you mentioned, is that the mother together with her daughter, contact/visit the closest Kentucky Domestic Violence Center. You can find the closest center in the county mother and daughter are living, at: http://www.kdva.org/kydvcenter.html They have experts there that know exactly what to do in cases like this. They will assess the level of danger for the mother and the daughter, and they will tell them what they can do and how to get the help they need, making sure that the husband/father won't hurt them anymore.
If the mother doesn't want to do that because she is too scared of her husband, you might want to suggest her to read the following information at "Barriers to Leaving" at http://www.kdva.org/barrierstoleaving.html There, she might find some answers, hints and helpful insights that could help her in deciding to move forward and getting the right help for her and her daughter immediately.
If notwithstanding all the above, the mother still doesn't want to get help, than the Aunt should call the Child Protection Hotline at: 1-877-KYSAFE1 (1-877-597-2331) and report what's going on. Prior to do that she should read the Frequent Asked Questions about Child Abuse in the Child Protection Section of the KY Cabinet for Health & Families Services at http://chfs.ky.gov/dcbs/dpp/faqchildabuse.htm
Finally, if anyone (you, the mother and/or the daughter) is in immediate physical danger because of the actions/reactions of the father, you shouldn't hesitate and call 911 right away.
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