Help Grandparent trying to get custody of one grandchild

[Rnance1974]

Jurisdiction

Indiana

My daughter has been staying with her grandfather for 2 years. We moved back to Indiana and stayed with my father I was offered a job in Colorado so we moved and my father begged us to let her stay and finish school and he would bring her back. When it was time for her to come home he had neck and back surgery and once again he asked if she could stay because she helped with tasks that he could not complete. Now its time for her to come home and he filed a petition for custody. He states we are unfit parents, we have to other kids that grandfather never contacts an they are our daughters brothers. We have been together 19 years and have no CPS cases or criminal cases with drugs or abuse. He has tried this before and made accusations of abuse against my wife and wouldn't return her home until police forced him. We want her back but cant afford a lawyer or travel to Indiana for court. There is no answer form on the petition any advice on how to answer this petition would help we don't know what to do. Thank you

 

[txls]

If you don't show up for court, he will have his say and you will not be there to refute his allegations. You don't have to have a lawyer, but you will be at a disadvantage without one.
I suggest you dig deep and find a way to get yourself to Indiana.

 

[leslie82]

My daughter has been staying with her grandfather for 2 years. We moved back to Indiana and stayed with my father I was offered a job in Colorado so we moved and my father begged us to let her stay and finish school and he would bring her back. When it was time for her to come home he had neck and back surgery and once again he asked if she could stay because she helped with tasks that he could not complete. Now its time for her to come home and he filed a petition for custody. He states we are unfit parents, we have to other kids that grandfather never contacts an they are our daughters brothers. We have been together 19 years and have no CPS cases or criminal cases with drugs or abuse. He has tried this before and made accusations of abuse against my wife and wouldn't return her home until police forced him. We want her back but cant afford a lawyer or travel to Indiana for court. There is no answer form on the petition any advice on how to answer this petition would help we don't know what to do. Thank you

How important is your daughter to you? There is no excuse to not show up to court to get her back into your home. None. Where there's a will, there's a way. If you want her back you do whatever you can to make it to that damn court date or you may not get her back. If you don't show up, then the judge will think maybe she's not that important. You also don't get your say.

I would go to the ends of the Earth to get my daughter if someone was trying to take her from me.

 

[zddoodah]

We want her back but cant afford a lawyer or travel to Indiana for court.

It's your daughter. Find a way. Otherwise, you're at the mercy of the court. Out of curiosity, why did you leave her with your father in the first place (because your father "begged" you to do so isn't much of a reason), and how old is your daughter?

By the way, if you "can't afford . . . to travel to Indiana," how exactly do you think you're going to get her back if the court rules against your father?

 

[Rnance1974]

shes 14 and the arrangement was they would bring her home or we would pay for a plane ticket she was left there initially to finish the last few months of school while we moved. then he had surgery and his wife is also disabled so they needed her help now its time for her to come home and they sue for custody. they are trying to say we are unfit but there is no mention of the other two grandkids who are with us.

 

[army judge]

shes 14 and the arrangement was they would bring her home or we would pay for a plane ticket she was left there initially to finish the last few months of school while we moved. then he had surgery and his wife is also disabled so they needed her help now its time for her to come home and they sue for custody. they are trying to say we are unfit but there is no mention of the other two grandkids who are with us.

All that is well and good, but if you do nothing, they will get custody.

Once that happens, it'll be even more difficult to change things.

The court might even see your act of compassion to your child and her grandparents as "forced labor".

Your act of kindness has now degenerated into a court battle, and if you don't appear, the child will continue to be a live in home health aid.

The two years of indentured servitude the child has endured might be seen by the court as abandonment on your part.

The next curveball he'll throw at you is when he files for "child support" and "back child support".

 

[ElleMD]

A 12-14 year old is not an appropriate caretaker for 2 disabled senior citizens. I can't fathom why you would leave your child with someone who has tried in the past to get custody away from you, let alone why you would let her stay 2 years. A few months to finish the current school year, maybe. Then you go pick up Sally and bring her home.