I am sixteen years old, living in California and my mother has physical custody of me because she and my father were never married, and therefore never filed for divorce/legal custody. However, my mother and I are constantly fighting and the stress from our late night arguments sometimes pours onto my performance in school. She was also formally physically abusive (when I was younger) but now she is just verbally abusive, threatens to hit me but never actually does, and is simply unreasonable when I try to tell her something. The physical abuse was from when I was in elementary school and CPS probably has it on record, but I haven't told them anything since then because I got in a lot of trouble as soon as they left our house. My (now) 28 year old sister and I have a fairly decent relationship, but sometimes when we fight, she pushes or hits me along with the typical name calling and putting me down. I have not consulted Child Protective Services because I do not want to be placed into foster care, I simply want to live with my father. I have tried to live with my father before, but my mother and sister threatened to send me to Asia to live with my mother's family. Basically, they have only given me two options: either I have to live with them, or I have to move to Cambodia and live with family out there. I have discussed living with my father before, but my sister told me she won't allow me to live with him. He already has me covered medically and could provide for me financially as well. As for school, I already have a scholarship to a private school, so school is already covered too. Last time I went through trying to move into my father's house, he was aware of the fact and said he would go to court if necessary. But I was wondering, because there is no legal custody, only physical custody, if that is even necessary. I know my mom would flip out and call the cops and try to make it very complicated if I went to stay with him (right now, for instance). What are my rights as a teenager? I have already contacted some local legal businesses with my school counselor, but I have not yet discussed it with my mother because I want to let her know I am aware of my legal rights before she overreacts or tries to send me away. Also, is there something I could do about her trying to stop me from living with my father by sending me away? Does it interfere with my rights? My father is perfectly capable of caring for me, but my mother has an incredible dislike for him, and I know she's trying to protect me, but for the most part, she's is emotionally abusive. I just want to live with my father. What should I do? I have already found a free legal system for children and youth in San Francisco, but my mother hardly lets me out of the house or use the house phone, and I don't have a cell phone, so it would be difficult to contact them. My mom is actually very strict, I'm hardly able to go out unless its with her. I don't even have house keys! He is legally my father, listed on my birth certificate as well.
Marriage & Divorce - 4 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Start calling around to family law attorneys until you find one who will take your case for free. I don't buy what you are telling me then. Children your age have been sneaking out of the house for eons. You are smart. You can figure this out.
2 :
that was too hard to read, but is your father legally your father ? he can go to court & ask for a modification of custody. At your age a judge would probably let you move. Get your father to see an attorney. You don't have any rights on your own.
3 :
You are on the computer right now. You can usually got to the CPS website and email them directly. Or, speak to someone at school, and arrange for a meeting with a CPS person with the counselor at school. Maybe they can make arrangements ahead of time, so you can go to your dad's, and it will all be set up before your mom even knows.
4 :
I don't need to read you long rendition, with no paragraph breaks, to tell you what to do. Start keeping daily journal. If you have to testify, you can refer to it. Create a letter stipulation your choice and the reasons for it. Don't EXPOUND (look it up if you don't know the word) on you reasons. Be obedient to your mother. This is proper, regardless of who you are living with. You have no legal choice, you can only express your opinion. A judge is under no legal obligation to consider your choice. Give the following to your father. **************************************** I’m a Father’s Rights Advocate for 20 years. Many think the courts are rigged against dads, but in reality, it is more about attorneys unwilling or lacking the knowledge to truly fight for the father's rights. This is why it is important to learn how to interview and hire the right attorney. It is also important to do as much as possible on your own and not pay the attorney to do it. Start keeping a daily journal of all your activities. The most common way to prevent a father from getting his rights through the courts is a false allegation, usually sexual. Over 60% of divorcing father are accused of child sexual abuse, of which only 4% are found to have any relevance, but there are no penalties for doing so. A daily journal is your number one piece of evidence in court and you can even refer to it while on the stand. Gather evidence. Check the site below to see if it is illegal to record conversations without the other person knowing. If your state does not have a law either way, than it defaults to the federal ruling which says one person in a conversation must know they are being recorded. You’re that one person. In Missouri it is specifically legal, in Kansas there is no mention either way. If you live in two different states, and one has a law against it, than it applies when the call originates from within that state, Now, you can't just record, you also have to transcribe it into the daily journal. If you want to learn how to do all this go to Dads House in Yahoo Groups. There's an educational manual in the file section that can teach you what you need to know. The organization it came from is defunct due to attorneys that tried to take it over and make money from it. Take the time to learn what you can and should do. http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/DadsHouse/ http://www.rcfp.org/taping/ http://www.glennsacks.com http://www.parentalalienation.org/
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