Custody Question

[step-mom08]

My boyfriend is involved in a fight for custody of his kids right now, one in which he represents himself because we can not afford a lawyer. We have his kids for the summer and some things have come to our attention about the children being left alone by their mother for 2-3 days at a time while she goes with her new husband over the road. We are needing to find out if their is something that we can file with the court to try and have the kids removed from her and given to him until the custody fight is over. The mother has just recently gotten custody of the kids back from DSS out in S.D because of neglect. We live in Illinois and the custody case is here in Illinois. Please if anyone can help let me know.

[our attention about the children being left alone by their mother for 2-3 days ]


If this is true the court would be alarmed and you may get full custody,

How old are the kids?

[Laura*lee]

Yeah, CPS.

[Laura*lee]

If you seriously think this is true. My husband's ex just sent CPS here, and there is no way she seriously thought he abused my stepson. Just don't do anything out of anger.

The kids are 13, 12 and 10 but here is the thing, we called DSS here in Illinois and out in S.D and there is nothing that Illinois can do and S.D won't do anything until the kids are back out there with the mother, we don't want them to have to go back out there. We aren't sure how to go about legally bringing it up to the judge because my boyfriend is fighting this himself without a lawyer we don't want to do anything that would get the case thrown out or put the case in jeopardy.

[tbyte]

What evidence do you have that the children were left on their own? Without something really solid, you do not have a case.

[step-mom08]

The only proof we have is the kids telling us but they are 13, 12 and 10 so it's not like they are babies.

[Postman]

Solid evidence would be the kids attending school on the day Mom was evidenced in Neveda.

[step-mom08]

The problem with having evidence is that she is doing this over the weekends(leaving on Friday night and coming home on Sunday night or Monday morning), also she threatens the kids not to answer the phone or the door while she is gone, we have given the kids our phone number to call us when this happens but they tell us that she is taking the numbers away from them and they aren't able to remember them. The reason that she is doing it is because she knows that DSS doesn't come out to visit on the weekends so she figures she is safe in waiting until the weekend. I am basically trying to find out if there are any Pro Bono lawyers in Illinois that can help or any children's advocates, we are running out of time and we financially can't afford an attorney.

[Postman]

Call the cops and report abandoned children... tacky but effective.