what can I do if father of children refuses to bring them home after visitation?

Raymond: what can I do if father of children refuses to bring them home after visitation?
The father of children and I have shared custody of two children. The children and I currently live out of state but he has visitation in his state. Can I call the police if he refuses to bring them home, when the agreement states the children are to live primarily with me(mother) and that they are to be returned the day before they are to return to school? What if he drops them off at his or my parent’s home?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Loving Life Now
file in court for an emergency hearing to have your child returned to you per court order if the father refused to return them. Police cannot get involved because this is a civil court matter not criminal court matter

Answer by Savannah
Call the police and tell them about your court order and that the father is not complying. They will either help you or direct you to whom you should speak.

Answer by Sue B
you can call the cops and ask

Answer by ~Mrs Ali~
If he does this. He is going to make his life a lot harder…The court will not favor on his side in such a case. If there is a court order to return the kids. Than he is going against the courts and you will be able to either file an emergency hearing now. Than call the police and see if they can do anything..

Answer by Batty®
In most states law enforcement can not force him to return the children without a court order directing them to intervene. And they can not do anything based merely on suspicion that he won’t return them by the specified date.

If he does not return when he is suppose to you can try and contact them to see if they will encourage him to return them. But, if that doesn’t work you will need to file a custody enforcement with a stipulation the he immediately return them and if he does not that law enforcement intervene. After you get them back I would then file a custody modification to either suspend his visits or have supervised visits in your home state.

Good luck!

Answer by Melanie
You can designate an alternate location for drop off and pick up. Until the day and time they are supposed to be back the police will not do anything unless you are concerned for their safety. Even then they will only perform a welfare check and allow him to continue his visit until court ordered end.

My hubby’s ex said she would do the same thing… she was not that stupid. She sent their son back on time.

If he DOES keep them, without an extenuating circumstance AND contacting you, it is parental kidnapping and you will call the police immediately.

It is not something to wait for the court to fix and the police WILL pursue this just like any other missing child/kidnap case.

There is an entire list of people wanted by the FBI for EXACTLY this… parental kidnapping

Answer by Ryde On
He drops them off at your folks because you are unpleasant and he wants to avoid you.

Is there a reason you can’t pick them up there ?

Answer by cricket
Call the police, unless you are the father since your name is Ramone. That’s kidnapping.

Answer by Jen
u can call the police. it is considered kidnapping. if he drops them off at a parent’s home, then u need to be aware of the fact before it happens. he can get in a lot of trouble and get all of his visitation rights removed.

Answer by sgt. Pepper
Emergency Hearing

Answer by sweet sue
My ex did this. My lawyer set up an emergency hearing for 2 days later. My ex had to appear in court or else he was in contempt and could be arrested. He had to give back the children in 24 hours. Since this is across state lines it is considered kidnapping. This can mean jail time for him! Your lawyer will have the best way for you to handle this.

Answer by Jill
By law, your children MUST either attend public/private school OR be home schooled. He can not keep them from attending school! If he fails to bring them back and the result of that is the kids are not going to school, the state WILL intervene. If he fails to bring them back on the exact day, first contact your school so the kid’s school records can NOT be transferred! This is really important. He will have an extremely difficult time enrolling them in school without transfer records. Obviously that will only work if the kids have already been enrolled.

He can drop them off at either parent’s homes or other agreed upon area.

The thing you must do is be prepared IF this does happen. Know exactly who to contact and what you need to do, so that you don’t waste precious time figuring it out after the fact!

Answer by sheloves_dablues
You have a court order that states he must return the children to YOU the day before they are to return to school.

What part of that don’t you understand? Sure, you can call the cops if he drops them off somewhere else, but it’s not worth it. As long as he doesn’t disappear with them, it’s not worth the legal fight.