Legal Question in Family Law in Missouri

Re: visitation contract

First, allow me to state in the strongest possible terms that arrangements concerning the custody, visitation or well being of a child are of the very highest importance and should be handled by professionals. Your question suggests that you are attempting to "help" a friend by finding and filling in a form "contract" whereby the "father" agrees not to take the child out of state. Were the parents of the child married? If so, were they divorced? Is there a custody order from a Court in effect? If they weren't married, has the "father" been legally declared to be the father by a court? I envision an unmarried biological only father taking the child on a trip from which neither will return, and any form contract you fill out and have signed will have no legal effect and will not in any way protect the child or the mother. Please tell the mother that it is absolutely imperative for her to consult with an attorney immediately for the child's sake as well as her own. In my opinion it is her moral duty as the mother of that child. Do not attempt to do this yourself!