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I want to sue her school! Can I?

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watamesupinhere

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Arkansas
My ex-husband kept my daughter from me and refused to return her after a visitation.
I had called her school and left a message for her because, I had made a very important doctor's appt. that she needed to attend. When I went to check her out of school, I was taken into the principals office and was told by the school officer (very rudely by the way!), that my daughter had expressed to them that she was not to go home with me. The school made the decision not to release her to me merely on the basis of my ex telling them not to. Mind you, at the beginning of the school year I explained what our situation was, as far as who had custody and all. The principal never once asked me to provide a copy of the divorce decree, which would show that I, the mother, had been awarded physical custody and her father had visitation.
They used the fact that they did not have a copy, of our divorce decree, in her file and therefore, would not allow me to check her out. Because of the sensitivity leading up to this, (involving my ex and my new husband) I reassured them that I did not want to upset her or force her to go with me. I then simply wanted to be able to talk with her to find out why she was under the impression that she was not to leave with me. They refused my request to talk with her!
This lead to the past FIVE MONTHS without my daughter before I could go to court to get her back!!!!!!! I think they are responsible for Intereference With Child Custody, any thoughts?
 
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happybug

Member
When the school refused to release your daughter to you because they didn't have a copy of your divorce decree, why couldn't you run home and get a copy for them?
 

watamesupinhere

Junior Member
Because there were like 15 to 20 minutes left of the school day and I live 40 minutes from the school. I asked if I could call the clerks office and have them fax a copy but, they said
it would just be best not to cause a commotion. I went again a second time, after having supplied them a copy, of course. A woman there secretly was trying to call my ex and let him know I was there! I was ticked off! Then the principal finally showed up and I asked if we were going to have a problem? She said no, go ahead and get her...she is at recess.
That was a disater because my daughter wouldn't coome with me because her Daddy told her she had to go to the dentist after school. It was a mess!
 

watamesupinhere

Junior Member
Well, yes of course. My point is the school had no right to even consider not allowing me to check my daughter out. Like I said, I had been in constant communication with the principal in regards to when he could get her or not. Never once did she even mention my custody papers. It's a small town, we were on first name basis, I thought there was a trust of sorts between us. He obviously didn't show any papers either yet, they did as he asked and kept me from even talking with her. That is just not right!!!
 

tuffbrk

Senior Member
Yet in your original post you state that you agreed with the principal about not taking her out of school and wanted to speak with her instead and your daughter refused to speak with you. So - how was that the school interfering?! You accepted both the school and your daughter's decision. And you state you went back a second time?! so obviously there was at least a second incident. You should've called your attorney and had them contact the school.

BTW- it is regularly recommended on this site that you maintain copies of your custody orders at work, at home, in your glove box or trunk, etc. exactly for these types of instances.

From my perspective - the school would have no way of knowing whether custody was ever modified and may have been simply following your daughter's lead...for instance, when the school officials were told by your Ex that your daughter could not be released to you - was your daughter standing right there?! Makes it more plausible that they were following your duaghter's lead...
 

watamesupinhere

Junior Member
Okay, allow me to clarify a few things.
First of all, I apologize for being new to this, I never thought I would be in these kind of situations in my life!
It had been 5 days since he had not returned her and I quite honestly did not know what possible reason he came up with to justify it to her. Therefore, when I was informed that she had told the school officials that she was not to leave with me, obviously it concerned me. I, at that point, did not want to upset her but, I did want to look at her and tell her that I loved her and that I would get it worked out. I, by no means, wanted my child to be even more traumatized than she already seemed to be. That was my point, even after reassuring them that I would NOT force her to go that day with me, they still denied me the right to talk with her. The custody had not been modified legally, that is. My ex has been changing the rules to suit him all along. Therefore, I would have expected that earlier in the day when this had come up, the principal could have and should have called me. She had any other time there was any little question regarding my daughter. Yet this time, with no just cause to do so, they interfered with the custody orders that had been in place all along.
Does that make sense? Only after I was able to get their heads on straight was I even allowed to go near her while she was at school. They treated me like I was a criminal. The ex is the one who had violated the terms of the divorce decree over and over again!
 
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Isis1

Senior Member
i'm sorry. but your first mistake was not providing a copy of the divorce decree upon enrollment of school. it was one of the first things i provided along with the immunization cards when i enrolled my kids. this is your responsibility.

does the school have a copy of the divorce decree now? ( i would have driven home and gottent he orders, but that's just me, i'm impatient like that)

have you called dad and spoken to him? not yelled at him hysterically (something else i probably would have done) but actually talked to him?

is daughter still with dad now? you can go to the court and request a enforcement to return the child to the custodial parent with police involvement.

as for suing the school, i think you dropped that ball on that one. not the school. something happened to cause them to think you may be a danger to the child. you should have asked to speak the the principal's supervisor, the school legal department, and kept going until someone told you what you needed to provide them to be able to wlak out of the school with your child right then at that moment.
 

Susan1

Member
Because there were like 15 to 20 minutes left of the school day and I live 40 minutes from the school. I asked if I could call the clerks office and have them fax a copy but, they said
it would just be best not to cause a commotion. I went again a second time, after having supplied them a copy, of course. A woman there secretly was trying to call my ex and let him know I was there! I was ticked off! Then the principal finally showed up and I asked if we were going to have a problem? She said no, go ahead and get her...she is at recess.
That was a disater because my daughter wouldn't coome with me because her Daddy told her she had to go to the dentist after school. It was a mess!
You have physical custody of your daughter, but she is enrolled in a school 40 minutes from your (and her) residence?
 

watamesupinhere

Junior Member
Although we had already moved after the divorce, I was allowing her to finish out the year at her school. I was trying not to have her make so many adjustments at once. Well, with what ended up happening with her father keeping her, was he enrolled her once again at that same school. I was furious because I knew eventually I would have her back and once again I have to face the issue of transferring right now or waiting. With all that has gone on, I am trying to do what will cause her the least amount of stress.
 

mommyof4

Senior Member
Although we had already moved after the divorce, I was allowing her to finish out the year at her school. I was trying not to have her make so many adjustments at once. Well, with what ended up happening with her father keeping her, was he enrolled her once again at that same school. I was furious because I knew eventually I would have her back and once again I have to face the issue of transferring right now or waiting. With all that has gone on, I am trying to do what will cause her the least amount of stress.

This makes no sense if this was a recent event.

You do realize that it is October, not April. You were going to let her finish out the year? It's the ENTIRE year and he shouldn't have to have re-enrolled her if she was still enrolled for this year.:confused:

You're not making any sense.
 

watamesupinhere

Junior Member
Okay, I'll speak alittle slower.....I moved in Nov '07, I was letting her finish out that school year.....wiith me so far?**************...THEN shortly before the school year ended, Mother's Day as a matter of fact!!....he had her for a weekend visit and never brought her back!**************..I had to wait until just this Monday...two days ago....for the court date!!!! Yeah, you see**************we are in October and school started in September. I have been without MY DAUGHTER FOR 5 MONTHS for no good reason other than my SOB EX wanting to pull the strings and screw up our lives!!!!!! Now am I making sense?????
 

Zigner

Senior Member, Non-Attorney
After reading ALL of the OP's contradictory posts, I conclude that our OP hasn't been honest with us and is merely forum shopping.
 

watamesupinhere

Junior Member
Excuse me????? All I have been doing is telling the truth, answering questions as best as I can because I thought you people actually came on here to try and help!!!
What is this site for anyways?!!!!! To kick people when they are down?
 

mommyof4

Senior Member
Okay, I'll speak alittle slower.....I moved in Nov '07, I was letting her finish out that school year.....wiith me so far?**************...THEN shortly before the school year ended, Mother's Day as a matter of fact!!....he had her for a weekend visit and never brought her back!**************..I had to wait until just this Monday...two days ago....for the court date!!!! Yeah, you see**************we are in October and school started in September. I have been without MY DAUGHTER FOR 5 MONTHS for no good reason other than my SOB EX wanting to pull the strings and screw up our lives!!!!!! Now am I making sense?????
Nope...because in that time if you actually had custody of your daughter, you would have presented the school with your custody orders showing that you were granted custody of your child and that Dad had no right to enroll her.

It's not my fault that you make no sense. None. It's also not anybody's fault (well, except yours of course) that you are doing such a fine job aiding and abetting him in screwing up your life.

So...school started in September. You never once (until your court date) thought that you might just take a chance and provide them with a court order? As a matter of fact, I just enrolled my children here in Ohio schools (from TX) and it was REQUIRED that I provide any custody orders to the school upon enrollment, just as it was required in TX.

Here's an example of child enrollment form from Little Rock. You will note that it specifically asks 'Who has custody of this child' AND it again asks who does this child live with.

http://www.lrsd2.org/files/enrollment/pupilinfo.pdf


IF you actually had been awarded physical custody of this child, you would have no problem proving it to the school (as a copy of the custody order should have been on file). No matter what Dad did or did not do, the fact is that apparently you did not have the documentation to back up your claims or (for whatever reason) didn't think that you should have to present them to the school. The school was not negligent and are not in any way, shape, or form responsible for your issues.

Any other school district you want me to look up? I'll be more than happy.
 
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