Since a court order of a 2-2-3 was ordered in July 2011 (which the way the fathers attorney manipulated the calendar…it was technically a 2-2-5-5 schedule) the now 3 year old child has suffered horribly from night terrors and averaging 2-3 hours of sleep per night since a month after this order began. The father has continuously denied having issues at his home. We started taking her to a psychologist in June of last year…who has said she suffers from separation anxiety, and she is stressed, which is causing the night terrors. We have had 2 sleep studies done…most recent was in January of this year…which shows on a good night, that she only fot 65% of the recommended 85% or better of sleep that night. It showed 57 total spontaneous arousals. The father rarely ever attended any of these psychologist sessions. We went to court November 30th, and because the judge was late arriving, we decided we wouldnt have enough time to present the case, so the judge asked if we would agree to a 60 day trial of a week on and week off schedule…that trial period started that day. We just went back to court Monday. We went back yesterday for the ruling, because the judge wanted more time to review all evidence. The father lied multiple times under oath, which was pointed out not only by our attorney…but his attorney as well. He suffered no repercussions for his lies. Yesterday, the judge said it was very apparent that the child has psychological issues, but, evidence showed she was doing better under this new schedule…not one time did anyone, not even the 2 professional witnesses say that she was doing any better under this new schedule…my daughter and i both testified that she still only averages 2-3 good hours of sleep per night, still has night terrors that have become violent, and the sleep study done in January proves what we are saying. we went to court with the pediatrician, the psychologist, all of my grandbabies medical records, which shows that prior to the original court order that she had zero issues…and mulitple videos of her night terrors. This judge is a new judge and this was his very first child custody case ever. We, including our attorney, are floored at his findings, and have no clue where or how he reached his findings…and he ordered that the 7 and 7 remain in place. We are having a very hard time understanding how he came to his findings…and we are having a hard time understanding how he is continuing to allow a father to have joint custody over a child that it has been proven that hes neglected her mental well being for almost 2 years now, causing this child to suffer needlessly. In your opinion, what should we do? Aside from a costly appeal that may or may not get us anywhere…isnt there something that can be done to find out what made this judge think that she has improved…when testimony and evidence was proven that nothing has changed under the trial period? Where is the justice for this child that is suffering at the hands of her father…and at the hands of the courts, that obviously do not care about her mental well being??? The psychologist said that it could take 60 days for her to adapt to a new schedule…which its been BEYOND that 60 days…a former pediatrician said that it could take a child 6 months to adapt…so, given that we are beyond the 60 days…and it hasnt helped…if she hasnt shown any signs of improvement in the next 3 months, given that that will be 6 months that shes been under this 7 and 7 arrangement, what can we do then??? Given that we just had court, Im pretty sure that no judge will review the case for modification in another 3-4 months, and frankly, I dont have another $5000 that it will take to attempt this again, when it was proven by fathers own admission in court that hes lying about this child having issues. Both pediatrician and psychologist testified that in no way possible that given that the sleep study was done on neutral ground, that the child isnt having these same issues at the fathers home…so we are having tremendous difficulty in understanding why the judge would grant him joint custody, KNOWING FULL WELL that the father has denied issues her of mental well being. Is this not neglect??? Had he has his way about it, and only because the wording in the former custody order was so vague…he admittedly in an email told my daughter that he would NOT give my daughter permission to seek help from the psychologist. But because the wording was so vague, she did not need his permission. However, the judge fixed that…by ordering that neither parent is to seek medical help for the child unless BOTH parents agree??? SO now, if my grandbaby needs further evaluation, and the father still insists that shes “fine”…my daughter will not be able to get her child any help. Please advise us on what we can do to find out what we can do about the wrong findings of the judge…and how he clearly did not have the childs best interest in mind when ordering this new order.
This post is outside the scope of our forum. Your case sounds very complicated, and it also sounds like you have an attorney that you have employed to represent you and your interests. He/she is better suited to answer your specific questions about the case because he/she knows a number of things that I don’t, like the evidence presented at hearing, the findings of fact, and the overall ruling. If you are seeking a second opinion as to how to proceed, you should consider a full consultation to discuss all of these things so the attorney answering can get a full picture of the circumstances surrounding your case and give you his/her complete opinion.