Originally Posted by JudyKayTee
It is not the same in the US, unfortunately - when the father has custody of the child he also has control of the child, including who the child visits, where the child goes. Without a specific Court Order which would have to order supervised visitation the custodial parent cannot control all aspects of the other parent's visitation.
A mother on the legal board went through this within the past two months - the Police would not take action because without an Order both mother and father are entitled to the child. She eventually filed for emergency relief, an emergency order, and that is how she got the child back.
The people who post went back and forth about whether the grandmother had kidnapped the child, could she be arrested, what was State law - but in the end the emergency petition to return the child and grant the mother custody brought the child back.