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sex offender trying to get custody

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dragonwillow

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Colorado

I have legal power of attorney for my partners nephew. He is 6 and has been with us for 10 months now. He was removed from his parents last year when he was found with his mother in a crack house. We were the only family able to take him at the time. His bio father is registered as a high risk sex offender. His father was released from jail last week after serving 6 months for failure to register. He is now calling us constantly saying he is coming to get his son and that we will never see him again. Can this man really get custody of a child? He was convicted of having relations with the 11 year old daughter of his girlfriend when he was 36 years old. But he is telling us he has an attorney and he can get his son. He ; the father; is in Texas and our nephew is here in Colorado with us.
 


LdiJ

Senior Member
Who gave you the power of attorney?
And who placed the child with you?

Since the father's crime was sexual misconduct with a child, its very possible that he is restrained from being around children at all. I wouldn't panic too much about his threats, particularly since he is in another state, unless/until you actually get served with something.
 

dragonwillow

Junior Member
His mother gave power of attorney to me.Social services in Texas gave her a choice between placing him with a family member or foster care. Since we already had a home study in place from adopting a child from foster care a few months earlier they allowed him to be brought here to us. The father is restrained from being around children but he is claiming he has some kind of waiver to be around his son. I have never seen any documantation of this nor have I ever heard of such a waiver. My fear is him coming here and kidnapping this little boy. Of course we have not gone into to detail with him about what his Dad did and he still misses and loves both parents and would willingly leave with either one. We were denied a restraining order, even though we had documented proof of both parents crimes and letters from social services in Texas stating that he is considered violent and has no legal rights to the child since his name is not on the birth certificate.This man has a criminal back ground that took nine pages to print; mostly violent crimes and drugs. The magistrate said that was not to establish that he was not allowed around this child.
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
The magistrate said that was not to establish that he was not allowed around this child.

Huh? Explain that.

Also explain how a kid's grandma can give you a power of attorney.
 

Silverplum

Senior Member
His mother gave power of attorney to me.Social services in Texas gave her a choice between placing him with a family member or foster care. Since we already had a home study in place from adopting a child from foster care a few months earlier they allowed him to be brought here to us. The father is restrained from being around children but he is claiming he has some kind of waiver to be around his son. I have never seen any documantation of this nor have I ever heard of such a waiver. My fear is him coming here and kidnapping this little boy. Of course we have not gone into to detail with him about what his Dad did and he still misses and loves both parents and would willingly leave with either one. We were denied a restraining order, even though we had documented proof of both parents crimes and letters from social services in Texas stating that he is considered violent and has no legal rights to the child since his name is not on the birth certificate.This man has a criminal back ground that took nine pages to print; mostly violent crimes and drugs. The magistrate said that was not to establish that he was not allowed around this child.
My best Colorado guess is that the Magistrate dismissed your 9-page list of Dad's criminal background and told you that the list did not negate his fatherhood.

Right? Or wrong?

You really need to be very clear if you want valid legal help.
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
This really sounds like a CPS placement to me. I don't know where the POA comes into play. It also sounds to me like he isn't even legally the father at this point.

I still think that his threats could be empty ones.
 

dragonwillow

Junior Member
The child's mother signed POA. Social services gave her that option when he was removed from her.
The magistrate said I had not proven I had a right to prevent this man from taking his child from our home. That was all he said and told us we would have to petition the court for a termination of parental rights even though what everyone else is saying is that he has no parental rights. I even showed him the papers from Texas social services stating that the mother was not allowed to have physical contact with the child until she had met the reguirements. The reguirements were drug and alcohol rehab, parenting classes, proof that she had stayed clean and sober, held a job and maintained a safe home for at least one year. But these papers did not mention the Dad. The social worker said it wasn't neccessary since he had no rights!
Social services in Texas closed the case once the child was placed with us but did state that if either parent took him back to Texas they would immediately remove him and place him foster care.Texas social services also stated he had no parental rights. But this family is from Mexico and will probably get across the border before any one can get them.
We changed our phone number last night and will be moving soon; but not far from here; Just a few blocks. I think this will stall any problems for a while.
Sorry if I am not being plain enough. I am not sure exactly what is pertinant and what isn't and I don't want to waste anyone's time. I just need to know what I can do to protect this little boy. The child's mother has failed to complete any of the requirements for getting him back but she is not threatening us. We are willing and prepared to raise this child, we just want to make sure we are not breaking any laws as we do our best to protect him.
If the child's mother agreed to sign over full guardianship would this prevent him from being able to come to our home and demand us to turn the child over? If this would help how do we go about doing it? Does it reguire an attorney? Can she just have a paper notarized and mail it? I would assume the law would reguire more than that; since we had to fax our home study papers simply to get the child from social services with the POA. The child's mother is afraid that if she signs over guardianship to us that the courts would see this as her giving him up and would be more inclined toward giving him to his Dad. Can we get guardianship if she refuses to sign? Isn't a termination of parental rights just for adoption cases?
Or is all of this totally unneccessary since his name is not on the birth certificate?
 

seniorjudge

Senior Member
Or is all of this totally unneccessary since his name is not on the birth certificate?

So he's NOT the father?

I am confused.

Anyway, my suggestion is to get a lawyer.

You're going to need a judgment in a lawsuit to keep this guy away.

Get started soon.
 

dragonwillow

Junior Member
When the child was born the child's mother did not put the Dads name on the birth certificate just her own. But she had been living with the man for over a year. She is still married to the father of her other children not the man who fathered this one. The man who fathered this one is the sex offender.
We will call legal aid tomorrow. I was hoping there might be a simple answer but guess there never is in cases like this.
But it is reassuring to hear that he may not have any rights anyway.
I wish we could lock up guys like this forever...I won't call him a man...a man doesn't do those kind of things.
Thank You
 

acmb05

Senior Member
When the child was born the child's mother did not put the Dads name on the birth certificate just her own. But she had been living with the man for over a year. She is still married to the father of her other children
Well then you have more serious problems because the man she is still legally married to is the legal father of this child also
We will call legal aid tomorrow. I was hoping there might be a simple answer but guess there never is in cases like this.
I have a feeling this is going to be to complicated for legal aid


But it is reassuring to hear that he may not have any rights anyway.
They are right he does not have any rights, however her husband does.



Thank You
Your welcome
 

LdiJ

Senior Member
Rather than contact legal aid, I would suggest that you contact the CPS caseworker in TX that originally placed the child with you, and see what, if anything they might be able to do to help this case, first.

However, again, it does not appear that he is legally this child's father, therefore anything that would happen would have to start with legal paternity being determined.
 

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