Visitation/Custody

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Mande081013

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I have been fighting to get my daughter back for 5 years.
I am going to tell the whole story,
I went to a birthday party one night, and called my ex to tell him it would probably be morning before I
got home, because it had been storming and there were trees in the road.
Well I got home the next day, but he had taken my daughter to his ex wife's house,but he was going to go get her. An hour later he came home but didn't have her, we started fighting and then the cops were called, he packed a bag and went to be with her, because at the time I didn't have a car. The next day I get an eviction notice from the landlord, 10 days to be out.
I had no where to go there so I moved to West Virginia to get something done to get her back, then I had contacted legal aid in Anniston Alabama, and got connected to a lawyer who called me stupid and that I lived in a fairy tale. I went to the police station in the county where we lived at the time it happened, they called me stupid.

I then got my divorce and had visitation, he never went by it, I went again to the police station with my sister, and they told me I needed a lawyer,but I had the visitation papers right there with me.
I moved to Mississippi, so I would at least be closer to her, well I get papers that my ex had signed his rights over and that they wanted me to do the same, but I had and will NEVER sign my rights over, I have to also pay child support for her.
My daughter now is with a couple that I have no clue of. Even my mother had tried to get her, through the legal aid, and they told her they didn't have the resources to help her.

I was wondering what I could do to get her back. I am stable to have her so why don't I ?
 
Legal aid doesn't handle family law cases in Alabama. Your rights very well may have been involuntarily terminated when Dad's rights were terminated, depending on what the state decided was the best interests of the child. As far as you still having to pay child support, if Dad at any time were ever on state aid because you were not paying child support, you owe that money to the state. You may also simply owe that money to Dad if you had arrearages. The state does not allow cancellation of CS arrearages because of a termination of parental rights.

Section 12-15-319
Grounds for termination of parental rights; factors considered; presumption arising from abandonment.

(a) If the juvenile court finds from clear and convincing evidence, competent, material, and relevant in nature, that the parents of a child are unable or unwilling to discharge their responsibilities to and for the child, or that the conduct or condition of the parents renders them unable to properly care for the child and that the conduct or condition is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future, it may terminate the parental rights of the parents. In determining whether or not the parents are unable or unwilling to discharge their responsibilities to and for the child and to terminate the parental rights, the juvenile court shall consider the following factors including, but not limited to, the following:

(1) That the parents have abandoned the child, provided that in these cases, proof shall not be required of reasonable efforts to prevent removal or reunite the child with the parents.

(2) Emotional illness, mental illness, or mental deficiency of the parent, or excessive use of alcohol or controlled substances, of a duration or nature as to render the parent unable to care for needs of the child.

(3) That the parent has tortured, abused, cruelly beaten, or otherwise maltreated the child, or attempted to torture, abuse, cruelly beat, or otherwise maltreat the child, or the child is in clear and present danger of being thus tortured, abused, cruelly beaten, or otherwise maltreated as evidenced by the treatment of a sibling.

(4) Conviction of and imprisonment for a felony.

(5) Commission by the parents of any of the following:

a. Murder or manslaughter of another child of that parent.

b. Aiding, abetting, attempting, conspiring, or soliciting to commit murder or manslaughter of another child of that parent.

c. A felony assault or abuse which results in serious bodily injury to the surviving child or another child of that parent. The term serious bodily injury shall mean bodily injury which involves substantial risk of death, extreme physical pain, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty.

(6) Unexplained serious physical injury to the child under those circumstances as would indicate that the injuries resulted from the intentional conduct or willful neglect of the parent.

(7) That reasonable efforts by the Department of Human Resources or licensed public or private child care agencies leading toward the rehabilitation of the parents have failed.

(8) That parental rights to a sibling of the child have been involuntarily terminated.

(9) Failure by the parents to provide for the material needs of the child or to pay a reasonable portion of support of the child, where the parent is able to do so.

(10) Failure by the parents to maintain regular visits with the child in accordance with a plan devised by the Department of Human Resources, or any public or licensed private child care agency, and agreed to by the parent.

(11) Failure by the parents to maintain consistent contact or communication with the child.

(12) Lack of effort by the parent to adjust his or her circumstances to meet the needs of the child in accordance with agreements reached, including agreements reached with local departments of human resources or licensed child-placing agencies, in an administrative review or a judicial review.

(b) A rebuttable presumption that the parents are unable or unwilling to act as parents exists in any case where the parents have abandoned a child and this abandonment continues for a period of four months next preceding the filing of the petition. Nothing in this subsection is intended to prevent the filing of a petition in an abandonment case prior to the end of the four-month period.
(Acts 1984, No. 84-261, p. 442, §7; Act 97-851, p. 138, §1; Act 98-370, p. 670, §1; §26-18-7; amended and renumbered by Act 2008-277, p. 441, §19.)
Click to expand...
http://alisondb.legislature.state.al.us/acas/CodeOfAlabama/1975/12-15-319.htm
 
I'm seeing that Mom is now paying child support - this would tend to mean that her rights haven't been terminated, unless she somehow owed oodles to the State beforehand, non?

That said, Mom here has virtually zero chance of getting custody. Visitation, sure - but the state is probably involved and would ixnay the whole custody issue.
 
Proserpina said:
I'm seeing that Mom is now paying child support - this would tend to mean that her rights haven't been terminated, unless she somehow owed oodles to the State beforehand, non?

That said, Mom here has virtually zero chance of getting custody. Visitation, sure - but the state is probably involved and would ixnay the whole custody issue.
Click to expand...

Or if she owes arrearages to ex-Dad. Remember, Alabama will not allow one parent to forgive arrearages to another during a TPR situation. (A dual TPR? I think the debt would survive that.)

But, yes, for what it's worth, I did mention that in my post. :yes:
 
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