I currently have primary custody of my daughters. Their mother has visitation in the summer months. This past school year they were allowed to stay with her at their request. Now, there are numerous investigations going on involving child abuse, neglect and even sexual abuse. I want to modify the custody order because of these investigations and because at this time, the mother has no residence, no job and has threatened to take them to Florida this coming summer. If she does this, I have no doubt that I may not see the girls again. The DHS office has told me that I have to abide by the current order and that she isn't allowed to take them out of the state. The current order is in the state of Arkansas where we both live but it is in a different county than the one I live in. How do I change jurisdiction and what steps should I take to get this done before the end of the school year which is in one month?

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Originally Posted by Adraven95

I currently have primary custody of my daughters. Their mother has visitation in the summer months. This past school year they were allowed to stay with her at their request. Now, there are numerous investigations going on involving child abuse, neglect and even sexual abuse. I want to modify the custody order because of these investigations and because at this time, the mother has no residence, no job and has threatened to take them to Florida this coming summer. If she does this, I have no doubt that I may not see the girls again. The DHS office has told me that I have to abide by the current order and that she isnt allowed to take them out of the state. The current order is in the state of Arkansas where we both live but it is in a different county than the one I live in. How do I change jurisdiction and what steps should I take to get this done before the end of the school year which is in one month?

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You go back to the Court that issued the original Order and ask for a modification - you could also attempt to modify where you currently live but that would take longer because that Court would have to pull the original file.

You are running out of time here so you would have to ask for an expedited or emergency hearing.

The best way to handle that is by Attorney - an Attorney would have the Court's ear -

I wouldn't go by DHS's advice. If there is an ongoing investigation that includes child abuse, then the courts should, temporarily at least, restrict her to supervised visits. As Judy points out, you would be better off with an attorney who knows your local system.

Judy is correct I would take the advice and run with it to the court house pronto. Unless its somehow extremely restrictive go back to the original courthouse and get this matter rolling right away. Who is being investigated ? The mother or a boyfriend. Either way if she has no home and other things are going on then like Judy had said make it an emergency order so it comes before the courts right away.