visitation

[elizabeth2]

What is the name of your state? NY

my parents are taking care of my sisters 3 year old daughter. She has lived with them since birth. (My sister has lived there also when not in rehab or jail) The father of the child was incarcerated for 3 years and got out in Sept. 2004. He lives in a halfway house. At first he got supervised visitation, then there was a hearing that my sister did not attend (she knew about it just didn't bother to go) and he got visitation 2x/week (10am-5pm). Meanwhile sis tested positive for drugs again and got sent back to jail in Dec. (and will probably do another 6 months when sentenced) The father has been bad news in the past (heroin addict/dealer, robbery,etc.) He now seems ok to talk to and seems to care for his daughter, however I am concerned about where he takes her on these visits. His sponsor (also a former addict) drives them back and forth. Can visitation be held in a halfway house? How can I find out who else lives there? He also arrives late to pick her up and late to bring her back? Where can my parents address these problems? Do they have any rights in court? (they have temporary guardianship)

 

[BL]

You have no say in anything .
He has a court order and he is nor restricted to where visits take place .

Depending on how late the child is returned , it could result in Contempt of court . If you are talking about 15 - 30 minutes , I can't see a Judge terminating the visitation on that alone . The Judge might admonish him if it was 30 minutes or more .

If it's 30 minutes or more ( each time ), then the court might not be so kind .

 

[ENASNI]

Its nice you care

You have no say in anything .
He has a court order and he is nor restricted to where visits take place .

Depending on how late the child is returned , it could result in Contempt of court . If you are talking about 15 - 30 minutes , I can't see a Judge terminating the visitation on that alone . The Judge might admonish him if it was 30 minutes or more .

If it's 30 minutes or more ( each time ), then the court might not be so kind .

Also know that most sponsers are ex-users... So that is not a point here.
It is good he wants visitation, that he wants to see his child,
The Judge saw fit to give visitation, only a guardian ad litem would see if any harm was being done, and give the judge anything to go by.

 

[casa]

What is the name of your state? NY

my parents are taking care of my sisters 3 year old daughter. She has lived with them since birth. (My sister has lived there also when not in rehab or jail) The father of the child was incarcerated for 3 years and got out in Sept. 2004. He lives in a halfway house. At first he got supervised visitation, then there was a hearing that my sister did not attend (she knew about it just didn't bother to go) and he got visitation 2x/week (10am-5pm). Meanwhile sis tested positive for drugs again and got sent back to jail in Dec. (and will probably do another 6 months when sentenced) The father has been bad news in the past (heroin addict/dealer, robbery,etc.) He now seems ok to talk to and seems to care for his daughter, however I am concerned about where he takes her on these visits. His sponsor (also a former addict) drives them back and forth. Can visitation be held in a halfway house? How can I find out who else lives there? He also arrives late to pick her up and late to bring her back? Where can my parents address these problems? Do they have any rights in court? (they have temporary guardianship)

A sponsor typically has more time clean and sober and is a person of honor within the recovery system. ie; The child is probably safer being transported by a sponsor than someone newly battling an addiction. Food for thought.

 

[mom2three]

You are correct, casa. A sponsor usually has at least 2 years sobriety under their belt.

 

[elizabeth2]

I agree, it's a good thing that her father has taken an interest in his daughter's life, although I still have concerns about what could happen if he starts using/dealing again. I'm hoping that the parole office is doing drug testing on a regular basis. I'm also concerned about who else he can be living with (could a sex offender also on parole be in this halfway house?) What is a guardian ad litum? And how does one go about getting one? Also my mother says that he often drops her off hours late, sometimes as late as 9:30pm even though the order says 5. He also calls and reschedules days. We want to keep a good relationship with him for the sake of my neice but should my mother be keeping some sort of log or journal of when he is late? Who should she contact when he is not following the order?

 

[MinCA]

DEFINITELY keep a log of when he arrives and when he drops her back off. Next court date, present this to the judge, or have the attorney do it if they have one.

 

[elizabeth2]

thanks i'll tell my mom to start keeping a journal. But what is a guardian ad litum? do you think there is anyone from the court system that is keeping track of him? will there be periodic court dates? what are they about? as I said my sister just failed to show for the first one and my parents are fairly clueless when it comes to law.