Some Pennsylvania fathers who are fighting for child custody know the frustration of having to go through numerous channels to be named the custodial parent. Some are struggling with state departments of family and children services and others are facing opposition in court. One father is fighting to gain child custody of his daughter from her mother, his ex-girlfriend.
The man’s war against the DCS in another state has been going on for a few years. Some of the allegations of which he has tried to make the agency aware have been over visitation problems and his daughter’s lack of hygiene. He says that DCS has done nothing in taking the girl from her mother and placing her with him.
The latest predicament has the mother and her current boyfriend facing accusations of criminal confinement and neglect of a dependent. The boyfriend allegedly restrained two children in the household, with the mother not participating but having knowledge that it was happening. The ex-boyfriend says his daughter was not one of the restrained children, but the incident was enough to make her afraid to return to her mother. The father is trying to find legal representation for an emergency hearing to intervene in having his daughter sent back to her mother, a very real possibility because she was not the one who actually restrained the children.
Allegations of abuse in the household are often enough for DCS to get involved in a situation. Children may be removed from a situation pending the outcome of an investigation, but many states still try to keep a child with the mother unless there is obvious danger in doing so. It is difficult to fight a child custody battle without the expertise of a legal professional who knows the relevant laws of the state of Pennsylvania.
