I know this is long, but I feel the facts must be stated to fully understand. PLZ READ THRU & HELP! I sent my daughter for a scheduled summer vacation with dad in June, from CA to IL. He never returned her. I had permission to remove her from IL back in '06. I received no notice from him, but found out on my own that he filed for and gained temp custody claiming I am unlocatable. I have tons of proof that we were in communication (i.e. emails & phone logs for both my and my daughter's cell) and that I was stable. I was in the dark about a lot of the facts because I was in CA, he didn't give me any info because he had to back up his lies and make it appear as though I was in an undisclosed location. So I quit my job and went to IL to try to resolve this. This might've been the plan because now I'm not looking so stable. I still have my home in CA, but I'm unemployed and our health and dental insurance is gone. In the email I have from September, I am asking for copies of whatever he filed, he responds "there's nothing else to be said but an address." I respond giving my fax AND home/mailing address, but never received anything and upon reviewing our case file there's no proof of notice. Over the yrs my daughter has made statements to me, family and teachers that she is afraid of her dad and doesn't like visiting him. I have received written statements from teachers. I also have several police reports of domestic violence from our relationship, when my little girl was still a baby. My son, who is older recalls much more and has been bothered by this whole situation fearing for his sister's well-being. He wants to speak out in court. He confided in me some things she told him about being at her dads. She said he brings in "bricks" (her words) of marijuana and keeps it in a drawer, she was once forced to watch an adult video by her step sisters, and she gets hit by him, his wife, their kids, and his mother. What's difficult is she just blurts these things out to me and others at random times, months after they happen so I'm in shock and unsure how to handle the situations. But now I just want to put an end to all of this chaos and be able to raise my daughter without him for good. I know I can be poorly judged in here for all this, but I assure you I was trying everything in my power to be fair and not let his actions towards me interfere with their relationship. He really made no effort to spend time with her when I lived in IL, it caused a great deal of issues for her in the beginning. I am done with being nice and trying to do what's right when it's obviously only leading to wrong. EVERY summer she spends with him, something terrible happens. She nearly got her finger severed by a younger sibling holding a knife while her dad fell asleep instead of supervising them, he rushed her to the ER, charged my insurance but never told me. I found out when I picked her up and saw stitches on her finger. She's been struck by her dad with a toilet seat on the back of the head for peeing on herself, which has traumatized her. She STILL has issues with urinating, but I don't make it an issue because she gets stressed and then her eczema breaks out. We began working with a behavioral specialist just a month before she went with her dad. Right now it seems she's being turned against me, and she hardly gets to call me. Her cell phone was taken away, so she can't even call me for help. I want to press charges, I want his criminal history taken into consideration and shouldn't he be held in contempt for lying about this situation? I'm tired of the IL court system pretending to do what's best for the child when they're always doing everything BUT! They forced us into joint custody even after he begged the judge to revoke his rights, thinking he'd get out of his child support obligations. The judge ignored that! They told me if we can't come up with a visitation schedule together, then the judge would. I am here in IL trying to wrap all this up so I can go back home with my little girl and never have to deal with this again. How can I get CA to take jurisdiction of this case? I have NO lawyer, nor can I afford one and no pro bono lawyer would help me. I am getting free legal advice on how to do this on my own, but that is it. If anyone has ANY suggestions and/or advice that might be useful with my case, I would be most appreciative. I also need an attorney, but I'm sure that's a stretch.. but what do I have to lose! Right now I have to work on my notice of motion and petition to vacate his orders. I'd also like to make sure his parental rights are revoked, I do not care for child support at all. I just want to raise my little girl and keep her safe, like I was trying to do for yrs. Thank you all for your time and thoughts.
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Who has primary custody? If you do, then go to court and file contempt papers on him, that will get him into court in front of a judge. Be prepared to explain why it took 6 months to do it. Judges don't like to move kids around, so the longer she stays with him, the more likely the judge will have her stay there. Also, age of the child is a factor, you didn't state her age. EDIT: Generally, jurisdiction remains in the original state, unless BOTH parties move from the original state, then it can be transfered to the state where the kids reside. It sounds like you really need an attorney on this one.
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