Legal Question in Family Law in Mississippi

Re: How Do I Get My Child Away From An Abusive Father?

Since I don't practice in your jurisdiction and I don't know your state laws, take this with a grain of salt.

First, protect yourself and your child. Look in the emergency section of your phone book to see if you have a YWCA, battered women's shelter, or legal services office, and call to find out what you need to do to get an order of protection (restraining order). In my state, the petitioner can have the abuser restrained from being any closer than 1500 feet and then make a specific exception for the time and place you exchange the child. Specify that dad stays in his vehicle -- assuming your child is big enough to do it, the child can say goodbye in the car and go to the other parent unaided.

Second, many jurisdictions consider witnessing abuse between parents to be abusive to the child and not in the child's best interest. It is one of the factors the court weighs in considering a modification in the parenting plan (called a change of custody and visitation in some states). My court could order one or more of: anger management, parenting classes, private counseling, supervised visitation, counseling for the child.