If my son's mother is refusing to turn my son over to me on my day which is court ordered, should I just go back to court and instead of fighting for visitation rights should I go for joint custody?

Even fighting for joint custody, if the issue is she won't let you see your son, it doesn't matter what kind of custody or visitations you have, it is court ordered and she is not complying, therefore take her to court, that is contempt... If you want Joint Custody that would be a good time to go for it, but make sure you get your little boy when its your time with him!!

Michelle is right... it really doesn't matter what arragement you have, even if you were to have joint custody she could do the same thing and refuse to let the child leave.

You can call your local police department and inform them of the situation. You can request that an officer to go with you when you are to get your son. Nothing really can be done, meaning the police cannot force the mother to release the child, but they can show the mother the court order and inform her that she is in contempt of court. She can still refuse to let the child go and there is nothing the officers can do, but what it will do is provide you with DOCUMENTATION from an officer that the mother refused to follow a court order, and you can file contempt of court charges on her.

Many people misunderstand the term custody and its various types. Joint custody, in most cases simple means that both custodians have an equal say in how the child is raised. Both have to sign off for medical treatment etc.

Joint PHYSICAL custody means that the child lives half the time with one custodian, and half with the other.

Visitation rights are different and exist when one custodian has FULL PHYSICAL custody. The non custodian then has scheduled times that they can spend with the child.

So, follow the advice Macksmom gave about trying to get the law to enforce the visitation (It may not be police, it may be a Family serices worker), but you can get someone official to go with you to enforce the visitation order. If she still refuses to hand the child over, you can have her cited for contempt of court and possibly jailed. This then gives you ammunition to get PHYSICAL custody and make her the one with a visitation schedule.