Child Family Investigator

[MomTryin2Improv]

What is the name of your state? Colorado.
I am fighting to get custody of my daughter because her father left her in Alaska with her stepmother when he was deployed to Iraq (without informing me). We have 'substantially equal parenting time' according to our parenting agreement. At the temporary orders hearing last week, the judge ordered that my 3 year old daughter stay in the care of her stepmom until a child family investigator can check out both of our homes, at which point we will return to court to see if my girl will be moved or not. At the same hearing she denied the stepmom's petition to intervene and her petition for allocation of parental rights. I have been trying to do some research on Child Family investigators (C.F.I.s) but am having a difficult time. Does anyone know the specific things they are looking for in a child's environment? I know they want it to be clean, safe (child safety locks on cabinets, etc.), but how much more are they looking for? Since my daughter has been with her dad and stepmom for 11 months they have pictures of me and my family around the house, places to put stickers and things for her potty training efforts, and things of that nature. Will the C.F.I. 'mark me down' for not having those things?

 

[seniorjudge]

Here is one suggestion:

Assume that your house and lifestyle are going to be the subject of a videotape that the judge will watch.

Make your house and lifestyle look as appealing, normal, and caring as possible.

 

[MomTryin2Improv]

Another question: The stepmom has had a private attorney act as a C.F.I., and that attorney gave notice to the pictures of me and my daughter's family on my side, pictures that I have sent up to her. How can I compete with that when the dad and stepmom haven't sent anything here like that? What do I need to do to give that kind of appeal to my home?

 

[Content]

Look at it this way find out as much as you can about childproofing your home, because you may find a few things listed on a childproofing list that you never thought of. Try to make your house look clean but not unnatural, you want it to seem like you keep it clean but you wouldn't snap and turn into an anal freak over a kool-aid stain on the carpet. Try looking up child home inspections, custody evaluations, and things of that nature. You should be able to get some more information there that will help you out.

 

[CJane]

Another question: The stepmom has had a private attorney act as a C.F.I., and that attorney gave notice to the pictures of me and my daughter's family on my side, pictures that I have sent up to her. How can I compete with that when the dad and stepmom haven't sent anything here like that? What do I need to do to give that kind of appeal to my home?

I seriously doubt it's going to come down to pics of respective families. There isn't a single picture of me in my ex's house. There's no way in hell his wife would stand for it. The kids have pics of him and his wife in their room at my house. *shrug*

You need to present a safe, clean, well-tended HOMELIKE environment. Make sure there's a bedroom specifically for her, and if it's not already, decorate it appropriately - hang her school art work if you have any, etc. The investigator will know that you haven't had the child recently, so there's no reason to expect that you'd have all the same daily things that exist in dad's home.