What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Tennessee
My wife and I just came out of a court case, I'll explain in short detail.
She and my step-daughter's biological father (she has police reports of abuse) never met for the exchange of their daughter and she was dropped off at the baby sitter and picked up by the other. When she was 3 she was dropped off by the father and told the babysitter that her daddy had hurt her. She went on to say that he had put his finger in her butt and had showed her his "snake". She when asked where this snake was on him pointed to her crotch region. The babysitter called my wife and they immediately went to the department of children's services. The DCS had them go to the Carl Perkin's center because they deal with child abuse. We were told to go have her medically examined and were given the name of a doctor, they told us that she was a specialist and that they send all of their clients to her for examination. The daughter had to go to counseling at the Carl Perkin's center and she's doing much better, she's 4 now and the bad dreams have stopped. Now a year and a half later we have our final court date for judgement and his lawyer brings in a children specialist who claims that the doctor we went to is only a pediatrician and her findings can't be used as evidence in court because she's not a specialist. The case was at the time between the state and him and they settled for a plea bargain of supervised visitation at the Carl Perkin's center. He isn't able to see her now because he is currently in jail for being caught with the distribution,possession, and making of meth along with possession of marijuana. He has a prior felony and has already plead guilty to this charge and his court date will be in decemember.
Now for my question, what should we do? We don't have a lot of money and can't pay for a huge legal battle, especially when we've already been told the word of a 3yr old's confession on video won't stand. It just seems strange to me that the medical evidence of her being dialated and red in the interior of her vaginal area right after claiming he did this can be thrown out. Yes maybe the woman isn't a specialist but the fact that the child is claiming it happened and there are signs down there shouldn't be ignored. I'm worried if we hire a lawyer and go back to court that we might loose ground and he'll get full visitation after he gets out of prison.
Side note, he hasn't paid child support in almost two years. (since this started) And he definitly won't be able to in prison. He in the divorce agreement was supposed to pay 300 a month and pay for medical expenses. My wife has been getting family first because he hasn't been paying it. Can this also be used in the case against him?
My wife and I just came out of a court case, I'll explain in short detail.
She and my step-daughter's biological father (she has police reports of abuse) never met for the exchange of their daughter and she was dropped off at the baby sitter and picked up by the other. When she was 3 she was dropped off by the father and told the babysitter that her daddy had hurt her. She went on to say that he had put his finger in her butt and had showed her his "snake". She when asked where this snake was on him pointed to her crotch region. The babysitter called my wife and they immediately went to the department of children's services. The DCS had them go to the Carl Perkin's center because they deal with child abuse. We were told to go have her medically examined and were given the name of a doctor, they told us that she was a specialist and that they send all of their clients to her for examination. The daughter had to go to counseling at the Carl Perkin's center and she's doing much better, she's 4 now and the bad dreams have stopped. Now a year and a half later we have our final court date for judgement and his lawyer brings in a children specialist who claims that the doctor we went to is only a pediatrician and her findings can't be used as evidence in court because she's not a specialist. The case was at the time between the state and him and they settled for a plea bargain of supervised visitation at the Carl Perkin's center. He isn't able to see her now because he is currently in jail for being caught with the distribution,possession, and making of meth along with possession of marijuana. He has a prior felony and has already plead guilty to this charge and his court date will be in decemember.
Now for my question, what should we do? We don't have a lot of money and can't pay for a huge legal battle, especially when we've already been told the word of a 3yr old's confession on video won't stand. It just seems strange to me that the medical evidence of her being dialated and red in the interior of her vaginal area right after claiming he did this can be thrown out. Yes maybe the woman isn't a specialist but the fact that the child is claiming it happened and there are signs down there shouldn't be ignored. I'm worried if we hire a lawyer and go back to court that we might loose ground and he'll get full visitation after he gets out of prison.
Side note, he hasn't paid child support in almost two years. (since this started) And he definitly won't be able to in prison. He in the divorce agreement was supposed to pay 300 a month and pay for medical expenses. My wife has been getting family first because he hasn't been paying it. Can this also be used in the case against him?