If you aren't yet divorce--
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and no paperwork has been filed, is it kidnapping if you take your child with you? (Child was originally taken without consent from the other parent; parent A just decided to leave). I ask because a family member is going through this situation. Said child is not being taken care of by the parent A who has her. She has been sick, and not treated to "teach you a lesson." Parent B, who was supposed to "learn the lesson," took the child to the doctor, and doc threatened to call CPS due to the health of the child.
Can parent B take the child without repercussions? There's no CO, there's no court documentation, except a marriage licenses and a birth certificate. Only concern is parent A flipping out and creating issues for parent B.
So parent A took the kid and
So parent A took the kid and left parent B. Then A abused the kid by withholding medical care.
Parent B got kid somehow and went to doctor who threatened to call CPS.
What to do: 'aswang' above has outlined a pretty good plan. Parent B gets the kid and walks into CPS and explains the problem in effect saying "Here's the kid - I'm here to prove I'm not abusing the kid". CPS will make a report.
Then parent B keeps the kid because the kid is being abused by parent A. Of course all hell breaks loose but what can be done? Neither parent has kidnapped the kid. Eventually the court will, after a long and expensive fight, make a decision and everybody is unhappy ever after.
If there is no CO in place,
If there is no CO in place, there isn't much the police can do unless the parent tries to leave the state/country. They will say it's a family matter for family court. Chances are, if the police are involved, the other parent will try some other tactic- false domestic violence accusation comes to mind.
Parent B should consult a lawyer, make sure they are in a place that is safe and stable for the child and file a report with CPS along with providing the physicians name/practice/info for investigation.
That is good advice,
That is good advice, especially about leaving the paper trail. Given the situation the divorce will probably take a long time and be drawn out so it's best to document everything and have records of all decision making/agreements etc.
FYI: You can't get a
FYI: You can't get a passport for a kid without both signatures of a death certificate.
Thank you for the advice.
Thank you for the advice. I've passed on the information. Now it's up to them!
One thing that has come in
One thing that has come in handy for us is a journal. My DH went through an extremely messy divorce and one of the things that helped him is that he had a time stamped journal where he kept detailed notes - both good and bad. Important things:
Time stamps - This will show that you were taking immediate notes and that you didn't sit and stew on the situation. (The immediate notes also helped relieve some of the tension in the house because DH was able to get everything out and not try to bury it.) DH used a private Twitter account that only he could see. This limited him on character count, but he could use several lines per entry, and they were all time stamped to the minute by a third party. There may be other programs available, but this was what he chose to use.
Good and bad notes - BM's attorney tried to argue that the only notes DH was making were bad ones that did not show the entire picture. Because DH was able to show that he kept good notes as well, the journal was considered fair and was allowed to be used as official documentation.
Start this as soon as possible, even before court proceedings. Unless a past incident can be documented through another source (like a doctor's report or school tardy records) do not include it in the journal. The courts do not see hindsight as 20/20, they see it as prejudicial.