I need help and my civil right to parent is being violated

[mominterrupted]

What is the name of your state?California/Colorado
I am a mother of 2 who left the state of California to be closer to my mother since my "husband" (we were married AFTER the birth of both children, and he had never established paternity and was not on the birth certificates of either child) was not paying child support, and I was unemployed. I have also been the victim of violence at his han*******d am afraid of him. The children were in Colorado, and I was driving the moving truck with all of our stuff, when I arrived in Colorado, the next day, the children were taken with an ex parte order, which used the UCCJA to give him custody. What perplexes me is that my constitutional right to parent was taken, and without a birth certiifcate or any other documentation to prove that he even had a right to them was taken with prejudice, and his perjurous actions that led to him to circumvent the "system's" paternity establishment have never been addressed. He since regaining custody has frustrated my visitiation over the phone, he has recorded me illegally, he continues to tell the kids that visitation is supervised, etc. I am a victim of PAS, as the children are not the loving children that I have raise*******d now he is leaving them in the care of strangers for long periods of time (someone else gets them ready for school, transports them to school, picks them up from school, etc.). The children's medical and dental needs aren't being handled, he is not providing the parenting time, etc. that they are used to, and my legal help has provided nothing except for a bill......

Prior to me leaving California, there was not a custody order in place (custody was me with full sole legal and physical) with him having liberal visitation, as I always fostered the relationship between he and the children, to the point of having a cell phone for him that I paid for to allow phone contact at all times (and this was while we lived 5 miles apart). I don't understand why the system isn't working for me, as I know that I have rights, just no way to secure the restoration of them.

 

[MandyD]

Gee, I didn't realize parenting was a constitutionally protected right.

 

[stealth2]

If you already had some sort of custody order (and it sounds as though you did), then it would have been established somewhere that he is considered the father. And in that case, you needed to get permission from the court to remove the children from CA's jurisdiction.

If you feel your lawyer isn't doing a good job for you, you can retain a new lawyer. In CA.

 

[mominterrupted]

Substantive Due Process: Interference With Fundamental Rights
The Fourteenth Amendment contains the provision that "no state shall make or enforce any law which shall . . . deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." This clause has been interpreted as limiting the substantive power of states to regulate specific areas of individuals' lives deemed to be protected by a fundamental right. Other areas such as right to parent have been recognized as fundamental rights protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. An unreasonable intrusion into these areas is deemed to interfere with a person's liberty.

Two classes of fundamental rights exist: those that are explicitly guaranteed by the United States Constitution under the fundamental rights provision of the Equal Protection Clause, and those not specifically constitutionally enumerated but recognized by the Court as implicitly guaranteed by the Constitution under the Fourteenth Amendment's protection of fundamental rights.

The Parent-Child Relationship as a Fundamental Right
The fundamental liberty interest of natural parents in the care, custody, and management of their child is protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Court has affirmed that related parental interests falling under this original premise are similarly constitutionally protected. For example, a parent's right to educate his or her children in the manner he or she chooses has been recognized as a substantive due process fundamental right. The Court based its decision on the "liberty of parents and guardians to direct the upbringing and education of children under their control."

Like the United States Supreme Court, the Florida Supreme Court has also recognized that substantive due process protection must be given to parents pursuant to the fundamental liberty interest that parents have in the care, custody, and management of their children.

As a Florida Supreme Court justice noted:
The right of the parents to the custody, care and upbringing of their children is one of the most basic rights of our civilization. The emphasis upon the importance of the home unit in which children are brought up by their natural parents is one of the great humanizations of western civilization as contrasted with the ideologies of some nations where family life is not accorded primary consideration.

In custody determinations, fundamentally fair procedures are required by the Fourteenth Amendment's procedural due process requirement, which protects "life, liberty, or property" interests.

In a related procedure, a state-instituted termination of parental rights proceeding, the U.S. Supreme Court noted that the parents had a substantive due process right to fair proceedings because the parent-child relationship is protected as a fundamental right:
[P]arents retain a vital interest in preventing the irretrievable destruction of their family life. If anything, persons faced with forced dissolution of their parental rights have a more critical need for procedural protections than do those resisting state intervention into ongoing family affairs. When the State moves to destroy weakened familial bonds, it must provide the parents with fundamentally fair procedures.

I am seeking assistance to obtain and secure these rights....is there anyone out there, who has a contact who can assist?

 

[stealth2]

Instead of spouting a bunch of legalitites that may or may not apply (and a hint - Dad has as much right to parent his children as you do).... IS there an actual court order for custody/visitation from before you left CA?

 

[BelizeBreeze]

Prior to me leaving California, there was not a custody order in place (custody was me with full sole legal and physical) with him having liberal visitation, as I always fostered the relationship between he and the children, to the point of having a cell phone for him that I paid for to allow phone contact at all times (and this was while we lived 5 miles apart). I don't understand why the system isn't working for me, as I know that I have rights, just no way to secure the restoration of them.

You HAD rights until you fled the jurisdiction of the court without permission and THAT is why the UCCJA was envoked.

At this point, you are in violation of not only the court order, but also federal law and you're lucky you still have access to a computer to spout this crap.

 

[mominterrupted]

Thanks For Your Help!

IF THERE WAS NOT A COURT ORDER...IE WE HAD NOT FILE****Y...DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT....ANY COURT PAPER WORK FILED THAT SAID THAT ANY COURT HA****Y JURISDICTION...AND I AM THE ONLY PARENT THAT IS ON THE LEGAL DOCUMENTS....BIRTH CERTIFICATE, SOCIAL SECURITY RECORD, SINCE HE HAD NEVER EVEN FILED THE PATERNITY ESTABLISHMENT PAPERWORK IN 11 YEARS, THEN HOW DID I VIOLATE ANY ORDER? I THINK THAT THIS IS STILL AMERICA....CORRECT, AND THAT IF I WANT TO DO SOMETHING THAT I HAVE A LEGAL RIGHT TO DO SO....IT IS FUNNY THAT THE ONLY RESPONSE THAT I GET AREN'T HELPFUL IN ANY WAY....

You HAD rights until you fled the jurisdiction of the court without permission and THAT is why the UCCJA was envoked.

At this point, you are in violation of not only the court order, but also federal law and you're lucky you still have access to a computer to spout this crap.

I guess you told me, huh! Sorry that you can't understand that I am seeking actual help...but thanks for the support...

Go drink some more HATE-O-RADE....and then attack someone who you feel may be actually in need of support or advice....seems like a useful way to spend your time!!!!

 

[mominterrupted]

DUH, of course I have read it...have you been informed of the thought that he without establishing paternity...legally (and by legally, I mean used by perjury) the courts in 2 states, as well as a district court, to obtain custody that he was in violation of the uccja? Section 75I,1, UCCJA.

Again, thanks for your help...your support and understanding are overwhelming!

 

[BelizeBreeze]

And a california court has adjudicated him as the father. Now, add about $15,000 to that figure I gave you earlier to disprove paternity, IF you can find an appeals court to listen AND grounds to appeal.

Have fun.

 

[stealth2]

If you'd actually post in some intelligible manner, it would help. For starters, shut off the caps. And then try using real English, full sentences and some coherent order to what happened. Thank you.

 

[casa]

You moved out of state without notifying the court or the father and that is why it backfired on you big time. Harsh penalties are meted out for this- it is a form of kidnapping.

I moved a relatively short distance (40 miles), notified the other parent well in advance, and STILL had to go through the courts for permission to move. It is the law in most situations.

How did you get custody with no hearing? If you were given custody (as opposed to the father) then you had to have a hearing against the father for custody, right? So that would lend to the belief he is the father also.

Whether your civil rights were violated or not- I don't know. I'm not a lawyer. But I do know from experience a court will listen better to your desire to be in your child's life than it will to you alleging a civil rights violation. IF you still feel somehow your civil rights were violated- A more appropriate forum to find out answers to that would be somewhere like the ACLU, not a child custody forum.