Terrified child

[Ray760]

i'm a single mother of two girls, one 14 yrs and one 4 yrs. i have had full custody of the 14 yr since she was 1 1/2 yrs. two months ago we had a few problems to work on. i wanted juvenile intervention, her father refused and insisted that she live with him and his wife. Before he would take her in his home, he insisted we have the custody changed to him so his childsupport would stop. now my daughter is miserable and terrified of her father. since she has been in his home, she has been head butted, whipped until her legs were bruised for two weeks and hit in the arm to the point of bruising. he forbids her from having any contact with any of her friends and insists on choosing her new friends. she is not allowed to have telephone privileges, any with me. my daughter went to the school counselor about the abuse. dfacs was called in and stated the he had the right to whip my daughter as hard as he wished and as many times as he wished as long as it was below the belt. my daughter desperately wants to come home to me and her father swears he will put her in foster care before i get her. in georgia, isn't the law supposed to be that at 14 years old, the child can choose which parents to live with?

 

[ktarra617]

I would get a lawyer as fast as you can. As you did not sign away your rights to your daughter I doubt very seriously that he could place her in foster care against your wishes but I would document everything, get a lawyer and file an emergency temp custody order pending a hearing that way the court can hear what the 14 yo has to say. If the school is involved and has seen the bruises then that is in your favor. That sounds like someone is condoning abuse. First stop is a lawyer though. Don't try to do this one by yourself.

Good luck!

 

[hanasgirl]

also..........if youve seen the bruising yourself i would be sure and take as many pictures as you can....as far as i know.....in any state....child abuse ----is abuse.....doesnt matter where you are hit.
Also.....if papers where drawn up for him to have custody and there is now abuse in the home....you should have every ground to fight this tooth and nail to reverse the custody back to what it was.

 

[Ray760]

thanks kt for the advise. i'm in search of a lawyer now but it is slow due to financial burdens (not only did he stop his child support, now i pay child support to him) however, i'm love my daughter and i will remain determined. also to hanasgirl, i appreciate the fact that there is someone else out there that feels the same as i about abuse. i do not disagree with spankings, however, when you have a 6' man thats weighs 200 + hitting a child of 4'8" and weighing less than 100, it becomes a fine line instructing "as hard as he can and as many times as he can". i tried to explained to dfacs that his physical abuse was the factor in our divorce, but when they questioned him about the bruises, he replied she received them when she was wrestling with her step brother. i was truly beginning to feel like i was the last person on earth who disagreed with this type of punishment.