First of all my granddaughters home state is Va since she's lived there for 3 years with her father and step mother. Parents were never married and no custody had been ordered. Mother never had possession of the child more than a week her whole life, child always lived with me.. When coming to Illinois this summer June 21 she told me her stepmother is abusing her. Then I found out that my son was being tried for selling drugs. The biological mother who also resides in Illinois notarized a letter giving me custody... After trying amicably to reach an agreement with my son to let me raise the child with him having her in the summer ( on condition she's not alone with stepmom) he refused... child cannot and does not want to be left with mom because a 16 yr old half brother exposed himself to her and has physically hurt her.. finally my attorney filed an emergency OP because my son was threatening to come take the child... I got temp custody..

My son only had to serve 30 days of his 3 yr sentence and when he reported to jail a week after being sentenced he was found concealing a narcotic and tested positive for marijuana... He luckily got out on Aug 26 just in time to get an attorney for the OP hearing. The judge denied their petition for dismissal.. Their attorney filed a motion for a rehearing on the Emergency OP..

Since I was granted temp custody on August 7 I enrolled the child in school with the mothers knowledge and we had given the judge the notarized letter from mom.
We went to court oct 1 for the rehearing and the chikds testimony was very powerful,, however the dad and step mom very convincingly lied... Son said he has no more charges coming and that he was only caught with an outdated prescription and he served his time.
We also found out that after the mother had signed custody to me she signed another document with my son that was filed in Va on Sept 5 giving them joint custody ONLY if she relocates to Va... and that the child would live with him... No mention of any specific visitation with the mom...
The judge ruled in their favor and I had to give the child back to dad and stepmom to return to Va
2 days later my attorney calls and tellme that after going over the judges order time after time that what he found is the judge only vacated the Emergency part of the OP
He says there is still an OP out there that's not settled and that we aren't finished here yet...
He advised me to also hire an attorney in Va.
Also 2 days later I find out that my son IS going to be indicted next week on a new felony of concealing a narcotic and violation of probation
I know that there's no bail for violating probation however I also have been told that he wasn't on probation at the time he showed for jail which was a week after sentencing.
I'm having a hard time understanding all of this but my attorney said once he's indicted we will discuss our next move
Samuel how can there still be an OP out there and if so why can they take her?
Her mother has no money and hasn't even begun to relocate to Va.
Do you think there's anything we can do? I have 2 attorneys in Illinois and just hired one in Va
My son told me that if I ever pursue him again that I'll never see my granddaughter again... Can you please read all of this and explain it to me?
You seem to explain things clearer than my attorneys... I will say that my Illinois attorney is very conservative and would never get excited if he didn't see a way... His exact words are... I think we've got a good shot here and we haven't lost the war

Please tell me what you think Samuel I'm so worried and neither parent is fit and the other grandparents in Va... ( my ex husband ) hates me and wouldn't let me see the child if my son is in jail

She's almost 12... Also what do you really think is likely to happen with his charges? He's already got 2 convicted felonies

Who is Samuel? There is no one on this site by that name. Since you have attorneys I would follow their advice. But the first thing I would do is present evidence to the court that the father lied to the court. As the court to reinstate custody to you and issue an order turning the child over to you. The IL court should still have jurisdiction. Then take the order and go pick her up.

Also you referred to a stepmom but said they were never married. In that case she is a girlfriend not a stepmom. I really am surprised that the court would return the child to a household where she was abused. At 12 she should be a credible witness.

I would also like to comment that a notarized letter does not give one legal custody. Custody is ordered through the courts, so you never actually had legal custody of your grandchild.

I'm sorry it was such a long post.. Let me clarify... Father was never married to the biological mother , he is married now and the step mom is abusive... However , the judge said that because the child had not reported to her counselor at school or any relatives that he didn't believe it occurred and honestly my son and his wife were very convincing liars.
My biggest question since I haven't been able to sit yet with my attorney and only had a brief conversation is how could Illinois still have jurisdiction if my son and the biological mother did an agreement in Va?

Ill be talking to my attorneys next week but I guess I'm so nervous and looking for real hope to get my granddaughter back that I'm hoping someone can explain how Illinois could still have jurisdiction

Thanks in advance for your help

Yes sir the court granted me temporary legal and physical custody with the emergency order of protection

At the time the Judge granted custody to you there was already an outstanding order in place in Va. He isnt allowed to rule over that one. The judge has no jurisdiction to rule custody from another court.

As far as the order of protection being up in the air it all depends on what the charges are that come from it but custody will not be one of them. You had no legal right to register the child for school or anything else nor to make decisions in her life.

I don't believe you understand my post be cause if you read it you will see that the facts are that the parents were never married and there was never a custody order Ever granted... The mothe notarized a paper giving me all rights to care for the child and the Order of protection granted me temporary custody.
The protection order was granted because my granddaughter testified to abuse
I was granted temp custody on August 7 in Illinois and after being notified of that my son convinced the mother to sign a custody agreement with him and filed it in va on sept 5
Therefore I was granted temp custody FIRST

I misread. Yes VA has jurisdiction. That's probably another reason why the IL court declined to order custody.

So your granddaughter is probably stuck unless she can prove abuse. And j_9 is correct, the letter from the bio mother had no legal standing.

I had read your post correctly. You even admit in your post that Va has jurisdiction. You tried to circumvent the process by ex parte motion. That order was only temporary based on facts presented to the courts. Those facts weren't correct if the judge let the child be returned to the parent.

You admit that the child has never been with the mother for more then a week yet you try to hold supreme that you got the mother to sign a paper of custody to you. Fathers have rights also. Even though they weren't married there is outstanding evidence that he is the father and was in his way being responsible for the child.

I have to agree with cdad here.

1) The paper the mother signed has no legal bearing until and unless ratified by a court. Notarization only means that a notary verified her identity, it has no force of law. The Illinois court issued a temporary order until it could have a full hearing.
2) At the full hearing, the IL court probably realized it had no jurisdiction since the child's home state is VA. Since there a filing had been made in VA, the IL court had to defer to that. So it didn't matter that you filed first. Had you filed first in VA that would be a different matter.

Bottom line is the IL court is effectively out of it. They have no jurisdiction. That's why your attorney advised you to hire a VA attorney. I think your granddaughter now has to report the abuse to a school counselor. They will be required to report it and Family Services will get involved. At that point, you need to let VA Family Services know you are willing to take custody.

But there is a big risk here. If the VA agency does not find reason to pull the child from your son's care, he can follow through on his threat to cut you off from your granddaughter. And there will be nothing you can do about it.

My son is being indicted Thursday with concealing a narcotic upon entering the jail and also violation of probation for testing positive for marijuana upon entering jail. The new charge will be his 3rd felony..
I'm told he will probably get some real jail time and my granddaughter will be left with her step mom and other grandparents who dismiss her abuse claims as we'll , so I should definitely be able to do something since the biological mom has never had the child and doesn't make an effort to even see her and the other grandparents would also keep me from seeing her

It is not so definite. Assuming your son is jailed (Just indicted might not be enough), you can file a petition in the appropriate VA court to gain custody. But there is no guarantee it will be awarded. The bio mother's preference will probably be ignored. The girl's preference will be given weight, but not necessarily enough. Especially if there is no proof or corroboration of abuse.