Please help my children

My children's father and I divorced 12 years ago. He physically abused me and the children and his father molested two of our daughters. The children have been with me, he's never paid a dime in child support and now we are back in court and he asked for custody of the children. The children testified through Child's Voice about the abuse, they have a Child Victim Advocate and they have had two guardian ad litems, both of which recommended that the children stay with me. But the judge in the case has entered an order that the children have to go live with him due to my bad behavior in not letting him see them(?). While I didn't want him to see the children unsupervised, I never had the opportunity to tell him that because he never called, wrote letters, sent birthday/holiday cards, nothing and I didn't even know his phone number or address. He would call my father and threaten to kidnap the kids and the court system got involved, hiding myself and my children, etc. He never attempted to contact the children in all these years and when social services set up supervised visits for him with the children he never showed up. We live in one state and he lives in another and the state he lives in is where the abuse happened. That state refuses to help us with any type of charges against him. My children are very angry and frustrated because no one will help us. The judge has stated that they have to go live with him at the end of the school year. My youngest children are 14 & 15 and they are at the point now that they want to look at being emancipated and live with me anyway because the legal system isn't protecting them anymore. I spoke with an FBI agent and he said to just ignore the judge's order and if they press charges against me they would never be able to convict due to the abuse. What in the world???? This is insanity, how can I put a stop to this ridiculousness, how can I protect my children?? What do I tell them when they ask why no one can stop their father from coming after them? They have been in counseling so long due to what happened to them. Please help, what do we do?

How crazy! Have you tried (or could you try) getting a lawyer with domestic violence background? Request a custody trial and get forensic psychologists to evaluate and testify. Have the kids' therapist testify and have the kids testify. Remember that he does have the right to see the kids and make sure everyone knows that it is your opinion and the opinion of the children that the dad SHOULD have visitation, but that it MUST be supervised because you and the kids are afraid for your safety. If you have ANY documentation or witnesses to the abuse make sure you bring that into court also!!

[jjones8601]

In most states, 15 is the magic number. A 15 year old can choose where and with whom they wish to live with in the family.