(March 6, 2012 at 11:19 pm)aleialoura Wrote: I never "lost" custody. I signed over residential custody voluntarily. In Metro-Davidson County, they can't take your children away for marijuana use, but it did hurt my case.
Unfortunately, signing over custody is losing custody. It's easy to lose and a son-of-a-bitch to get back. Fortunately for you, most states prefer giving a child to a biological parent over taking it into custody.
Quote:I feel like what I have in evidence is plenty, and there's no way my daughter would be given to the state. I've got a clean criminal record, my son is an honor roll student with perfect attendance, I live in a nice home, make good money, I don't drink, I can pass a drug test now (because I have my dilution, B2, creatine, aspirin method down to a science), and 27 witness ready to testify I am an excellent mom... one of them being a Metro City Councilman.
It might be plenty for them to take her away from him. Whether it is enough to have them reinstate your parental custody rights is a whole different ballgame. It can certainly happen. I'm just saying that his custody and your custody are considered separately. They won't just say, "He sucks, give her to her mother."
Quote:If he's not going to bring up drugs, neither am I, and he had a chance to do so the other day, so I think I'm safe for now.
I'm certain you're safe from the results of your last piss test. I know for a fact that they cannot bring something up twice and hold it against you twice.
Quote:The only way they would put her in state's custody is if both of us are proven to be unfit, and that's not going to happen. A drug test from over a year ago won't do that.
Unfortunately, it already did. You signed over parental rights. This won't be a matter of proving you are fit. This will be a matter of proving you are now prepared to raise her. Whether you felt coerced into signing the document or not is irrelevant. If all of the above is entirely accurate, I'm sure it won't be too much trouble. Nonetheless, I just think it is important to bear in mind that the judge will take into account that you signed over custody, thus waiving your custodial rights.
Quote:I'm pretty confident the guardian ad litem is going to work quickly to get her out of there and to me, as soon as she's up to date on all the evidence.
I hope, at least.
Don't take this as a buzzkill, as no matter how long it takes, it's an important job, but my stepson's guardian ad litem filed for three extensions, dragging it out over a period of more than 6 months. Now, at that time, he was safe in my custody and that of his father, so there was no real sense of urgency. I won't go into the details of what they were looking into, but I will say he was in no danger at the time and that may make a difference to the guardian ad litem. Then again, she might have the child removed from his custody and placed in state care while she conducts her investigation. Make no mistake, you will be investigated by her too. She's probably going to interview your daughter as well. I hated that aspect of it. The kids have to go through so much bullshit.
If your interviews go anything like mine did, the lawyer will not be talking to you about evidence admitted in court. He or she will have that. The interviews will be about you. Your work, your friends, your living situation, your education level, your parenting styles, how well the child knows you and so on. He or she might ask a few questions about incidents, but there will be a lot about what you're doing with your life. I'm not sure about if she will bring up you signing over custody, as that was not an issue for our case. She might, though. I would be ready with answers that don't play the victim card. That never worked for she who must not be named. It just pissed them off. One judge threatened to throw she who must not be named out of court for hysterically crying.
