NJ punched our daughter

[aero_8]

My D9 went to school with a black eye after a weekend at her mothers. She told the teacher that her mother punched her. The school will be reporting this to DCF. From what I can understand, D9's mother had been drinking, got drunk, and beat her up. The police responded, but I don't have a clear story on why, or what happened. The NJ has an alcohol problem, and is prohibited by the courts from drinking within 24hrs of having D9. I've already got the call in to my lawyer, I will be contacting the DCF agent who made the previous report, scheduled appointment with child psychologist, and spoken with the school. My next steps are to schedule an appointment with her pediatrician to document the injuries, and talk to the police department in NJ's town. D9 is not scheduled to spend time with her mother for more than a week, so she is immediately safe.

What else guys? Is this grounds for charges to be pressed? Should I be filing them, or should that come from DCF? Should I be requesting a protective order for D9?

I was already planning on going back to court for child support, and a minor contempt issue surrounding that. D9 should not be alone with her mother. How do I make this happen?

[dad_76904]

i would do ALL of the above. don't wait around for DCF to do something. You need to take every possible step to keep your daughter out of harms way. don't wait on the pediatrician's appt... take her to the emergency room. get pictures taken. document it NOW before she heals. i would request an emergency hearing as your daughter is in imminent danger. if it happened once, it will happen again. just a matter of time.

[Trevor]

Your lawyer should be pursuing an emergency custody change with mom receiving limited and supervised parenting time contingent upon the outcome of the child abuse case against her, documented sobriety (addiction program and drug testing), and other steps to ensure the safety of the child.

[Fatheroffour]

DCF will do their best to reunite child and abusive parent. Don't wait for that to happen.

A bruise, especially in the face, is worthy of criminal charges and supervised < parenting time >.

[hoosier_dad]

The NJ has an alcohol problem, and is prohibited by the courts from drinking within 24hrs of having D9.

That clause is in your decree to protect your daughter and your ex knew the consequences if she violated it. I would file immediately for a change to supervised < parenting time > for the ex once you get the details nailed down.

[Anything4Her]

Withold < parenting time > until emergency custody filing.

Agreed. She doesn't see the kid until this is in front of a judge.

[aero_8]

Thanks everybody! I'm pretty much doing all of the above. I expect to file charges as soon as I can wrap up the documentation. Someone suggested going straight to the Emergency room to document the abuse, rather than to the Pediatrician's. In this instance, I got the first appointment of the day with our Pediatrician, so it wasn't an issue, but that is exactly what I would do if this ever happened again. Great advice!

[anonymous guest]

Good job protecting your daughter. Keep it up and don't let off. I wish you the best of luck!

[Anything4Her]

Aero,

Any update?

[aero_8]

Update...

I went to court yesterday on an emergency motion to suspend < parenting time > until we can get both parties before the court. The motion was heard and granted. DCYF has opened an investigation, and has had a preliminary interview with D9. The interview went very well, and D9 was entirely open with the social worker. The police are leaving their case open, until they have a finding from DCYF, but have already taken the step of sending the case to the AG. At this point, I have a report from the teacher, the school social worker, the school nurse, and our Pediatrician, including photos, and a recommendation to re-evaluate < parenting time > from the Pediatrician. I think that's enough to gain traction through the Family court. I think the criminal complaint will hinge on what DCYF concludes. I'll be due back in court next week. I expect to hear an entirely different story presented to the Judge from the NJ, but suspect that with the case history, the Judge will rule on the side of caution. I'll be asking to suspend < parenting time > until NJ successfully completes an alcohol treatment program, and for random alcohol screening to continue for x amount of time.

I'm more stressed out about this one than I have been in a long time. I don't think I've missed much, but this is getting very tiring. I can't stand the thought of having to send my little girl back to someone who beat her!