15 Year Old Girl: Choice Of Where To Live?

[Sinjection]

What is the name of your state? Florida

Situation stands as this. A friend of mine, a 15-year-old female, has been currently living with a friend of her mother's for about a year now. Her two younger brothers live with the mother herself. The girl's mother agreed and has no problem to her staying with her mother's friend, whom also has an 18-year-old son, whom she views as a big brother. They get along like a family, and it's a pretty nice situation worked out there. She moved out for the reason that the mother's friend, a 52-year-old woman, is a person she's known for 2 years already, whom she feels close to and can talk to. The 52-year-old woman has completely taken care of the girl, financially and everything without recieving ANY child support from either the mother or the father of the girl. The girl is currently is taking Florida Virtual School, has a steady part-time job, and is in good mental and physical health.

Anyway, the father of the girl, who had been stationed in the military for some time, is now back, and is divorcing the girl's actual mother. He is also trying to get full custody of all three children (the girl and her two younger brothers.) Is there something the girl should do, write, say... whatever, in order to have the mother gain custody of her? Is she old enough to choose which parent she wants to live with? She knows that the father will NOT permit her to stay with the 52-year-old woman she has been living with for the last year, because the father only cares about looking good for his new girlfriend. So, obviously, the girl wants her mother to gain custody, knowing that the mother was caring enough for her daughter's happiness to allow the daughter to live with the 52-year-old woman that she views as her own mother.

So, is the father gaining full custody likely? Is there something the daughter could do to prevent that? The two boys who live with the girls actual mother (6-years-old and 3-years old) have never really even known the father (who barely ever did anything with them before he left the military), and want to be with the mother. The girl, OBVIOUSLY, wants nothing to do with her father, who has only proven that he cares little for her happiness, and only for his own self image.

Any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

 

[Wolflmg]

I believe in these situation, the father does have rights to get custody of his children, including your friend. Seeing as how the person your friend is staying, by law doesn't really have custody of her. Most court cases normaly like the mother to have custody of the children, unless she is found to be unfit to have fully custody, then custody would fall in the father hands, as long as he has a good job to support the children and a good background check.
Now your friend is only 15, I think in some State when a kid is 16 then they can choose, but that would be only a parent, not a friend of a parent. Unless that friend, goes towards the court wanting custody of her. But seeing as how the mother has been allowing her daughter to stay with this friend. The court might find something odd about that.
The way I see it your friend might not have much of a choice, unless she really hold something against her father.

 

[Sinjection]

Well, as far as that goes, the girl is willing to make a written statement about how (trutfully) she is afraid of her father. At some point before he had left, her father had offered her a vibrator, and she, being scared, called her mother about it at work, who later reemed him for being that way. He told his wife about how he had sex with his sister at a young age, (which the girl knew too), and even worse, he constantly looked at incestual websites, and Chrystal would hide out in her room, waiting for the mother to come home because she was scared.

Now, he had never physically done anything, but he, when supposed to be home to watch the (at the time) 2 year old boy and 5 year old boy, would look at pornographic incestual websites and leave watching the boys to the girl. Partially, this is the reason she left the house. She has, now upon leaving, been in contact with the mother, keeping a good relationship, which is only getting better. She stayed at the friend's house in order to EVENTUALLY come back to her actual mother and have everything normal... but the father IS the reason that she was "weirded out" about her home to begin with.

In addition to this, the girl's father visited ONCE during his entire year gone, and he stayed at the residence of the 52-year-old woman. There, he brought his girlfriend, and spent the night in his daughter's room with the woman, while leaving the daughter to sleep out in the living room. That, I believe, is called adultery, right? Another woman while still married, IN FRONT of both the girl AND the 18-year-old son of the woman the girl was staying with?

Each of the two (the 15-year-old girl, soon to be 16 in June) and the 18-year-old male are willing to make written statements or whatever is necessary to explain to the court about these things about the father, which are entirely true. Would these aid in the situation?

 

[Wolflmg]

Seeing as the father is that way, more then likely he wouldn't get custody of his children, but only if this information is brought forward to the court by your friend and her mother.
However, your friend may have to end up going back to live with her mother, depending on how the court feels about the situation.