My brother lives in Oregon. He suspects his ex is using.cocaine. And marijuana .bothboth have filed.for.soul custody.of his three.year old.child. Approximately three weeks ago he witnessed his ex girlfriend.swearing at their child and being physicall rough with her when her returned.their child to her residence. He called the police when

My brother lives in Oregon. He suspects his ex is using.cocaine. And marijuana .bothboth have filed.for.soul custody.of his three.year old.child. Approximately three weeks ago he witnessed his ex girlfriend.swearing at their child and being physicall rough with her when her returned.their child to her residence. He called the police when the police went into the residence it was filthy! The officer envolved children's services they visited the home and told the ex and owner of home to clean it up. The home is still filthy , his ex continues to use drugs drop the child off to who ever will take her so the ex can party. His ex also has no appropriate child care for the time she is at work.and is keeping.his daufhter from him as much as possible. She leaves the childunatended frequently or with the teenage son of her roomies at the filthy crash pad... my queation ia can he file for temporary soul custody and simply mot return his child to his ex until he has her drug testes and they go through court ordered mediation or what steps does he need to take . Can he keep jer and call children's services himself. He is terrified as am I

I have moved your posts from this thread.

Assuming that your brother is on the birth certificates, both he and the childrens' mother share full custody. What this means is that either parent can, in theory, take the children. However, also in this theory, it can turn into a pulling match, which would have course not be in the childrens' best interest.

He should file for a temporary order awarding him custody until permanent custody can be decided.

Has any custody arrangement been ordered by the courts already? He will have to stick with that first if it has. He can get the reports from children's services but if they didn't remove the child from the home then it presents a problem for your brother as children's services is seen as professionals and your brothers opinion is biased at best.

If there is already a case with children';s services that have cited her for unfit home conditions, then yes, he can keep her until a court rules, unless there are already court orders giving her primary custody.

As for the drug use, he needs to be careful to not make accusations unless he has ironclad proof.

He can ask the court for drug tests, but without convictions, his word is not going to do any good. As for being rough, who else witness this and what physcial evidence, bruises or marks ?

He will need something more than his word in court, she could easily lie the say about him.
A good attorney at this point is a must