A child custody case outside of Pennsylvania has been going on for six years. The judge presiding over the case ordered the three children of the divorced parents to a detention facility for youth after they would not spend time with their father during his court-appointed visits. The father feels the way the mother is handling the child custody battle is forcing him to pursue sole custody.
From the father’s viewpoint, the only way for both parents to be in the children’s lives is for him to be granted custody because the mother is doing everything she can to prohibit a relationship between him and them. Allegations against her note that part of her reasoning for keeping the children and him apart is that she thinks he will physically hurt the children or take them away so that she would not be able to find them. He said she has even taken the children out of the country at times when he was to have visitation time with them.
The father portrays the mother as mentally unstable, citing the fact that she has gone through numerous lawyers since the six year ordeal began and that even court-appointed officials have had trouble with her. He claims she has disobeyed court orders several times and has been deemed uncooperative by those same officials. One of those officials, a mental health professional, determined that the mother, while claiming she wants the children to have a close connection to their father, is not credibly communicating that to the children.
The children were at the detention center for two weeks, spending time apart from each other and their parents. The judge then overturned her decision and sent them to a camp for an unspecified length of time where the only time they were allowed to speak to either parent was on official camp visitations. Each parent has strong convictions as to what he or she feels is best for the children, but it will be up to the court to make the final decision in this embattled child custody case. Parents in Pennsylvania who are having a hard time coming to an agreement concerning the welfare of their children may benefit by professional guidance and support when navigating the law.
Source: observer.com, “Omer Tsimhoni, Father of Detained Michigan Kids, Files for Full Custody“, Ken Kurson, July 17, 2015