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Child Custody Question

andrew_street's picture

So SD10 is no longer wanting to live with her father anymore. She claims she is verbally abused and gets slapped around by her Dad and she's very upset when it's his week to have the kids. Does anyone know if 10 is old enough to talk to a court appointed rep to take her statement for the judge to consider? I'm only asking because I don't want to put her thru the process if it's possible the judge wont allow her to live with us full time.

Comments

Ex4life's picture

No, I don't think there is a state that allows a 10 year old to be heard. I think the youngest I have ever heard was 12 with most states being 14.

andrew_street's picture

Well, we are thinking of filing temporary orders of custody until a court hearing so the judge can put it in writing. However, we don't have representation and I'm worried that the judge will play the game of "lets send the father and the child to therapy together" and so on and drag this out.

I have called CPS before and they themselves told me that all they are allowed to do is make suggestions to the father of how he should behave. They have no ability to actually institute consequences or remove her from the house unless things get very bad. And we don't want to wait until things get VERY bad.

andrew_street's picture

No, that was her father and grandmother trying to get her to lie and say that I molested her. She knows I didn't do anything wrong. And that is also part of why she doesn't want to live with them anymore.

fakemommy's picture

In my state, they will listen to a kid as young as 7 in some cases, but def will at 10. You can probably find this online.

If CPS won't do anything if you call, have the kid report the abuse to a teacher or take her to the doctor (who has to report), if there are any marks left. Maybe they will take the report more seriously then.

andrew_street's picture

In this girls defense she never accused me of molesting her. It was her father and grandmother and she claims she never said anthing to them of that nature.