Can The Police Help Enforce Your Visitation Rights??

Today is November 29, 2011, it has now been over 6 months since I have last seen my 8 year old daughter.  Thanksgiving break has come and gone and as typical the flurry of emails and text messages that precede a visitation period have ceased from my daughter's mother.  Until the next visitation period, which is suppose to be this upcoming weekend.

I have been documenting the ordeal for a number of reasons but one of the biggest reason's is to try and bring some awareness to the apathy from the judicial system about this very real and all too common problem in our society.

This case has been in the court systems for 2 years.  I filed a contempt of decree charge almost 2 years ago because I was denied my visitation rights for the 2009 Christmas season.  I was then denied weekend visitations beginning in January of 2010 and that is when I contacted a lawyer and started the process.  I had no idea it would turn into this long arduous battle not only with my X-wife but the entire judicial system of Georgia.

The case has been stalled out in the court systems since the early part of 2011.  That was the last I have heard of any court time or information about where this is in the courts.  I have been denied 2010 summer weeks of visitation and now the last time I have laid eyes on my daughter was 2 weeks before Father's Day 2011.

I have been at my daughter's mother's house every time I was suppose to get visitation rights over the last 6 month's.  She has not been there each and every time.  I have a series of videos documenting many of the attempts at visitation.

When I went to get my daughter most recently for Thanksgiving Break I arrived at the mother's house at noon on Wednesday.  I had sent an email Tuesday at 1:00pm stating that would be the time I would pick her up for my holiday visitation period.  At 11:33 am on Wednesday I received an email, this is very typical of the process, telling me all the reason's why I was not going to get my daughter.  I went to the house anyway as I usually do and went through the motions of ringing the doorbell and waiting for a 10 - 15 minutes and then left.

My sixteen year old daughter was visiting for the holiday as well and desperately wanted to see her sister, she has not seen her for over 6 months either and so I decided to go to the police station and see if there was anything that could be done.   I had already had a police officer meet me at the house about a month prior but she was not home then either and so nothing was done.

I was curious as to what would happen at the police station and armed with my decree and my sixteen year old daughter I entered the police station.  When I finally got my turn to talk to an officer I was not surprised when he said there was not a lot they could do.  He took the decree, filed a complaint, gave me a card with the case number and told me I could come back next week and pay the money to get the report.  I asked him if there was not the possibility of having an officer escort me to the door and help me get my daughter during the visitation time that was clearly laid out in the official decree issued by the Superior Court of Georgia.

He said I would be better off contacting the Sheriff and see what they could do for me.  Later that night I put my current wife and my daughter in the car and started driving to my daughter's mother's house.   I called the Sheriff and got a lady on the phone that started asking all of the usual questions and when she understood what I was trying to do said I needed to get a "Keep the Peace" document.  I told her I had never heard of this.  She proceeded to tell me nothing could be done until I got that document and then the Sheriff would be able to meet me and retrieve my daughter for me.  I talked to her a while longer, begging her to see if there wasn't something that could be done now so I could get my daughter for the break.  She put me on hold.

A few minutes later she asked if there was a number to call me back on and that she would have a Deputy Sheriff call me and talk about what could be done.  About 30 minutes later I received the call.  I talked in length about what was going on and yet again was told there was nothing that could be done and since the courts are closed for the holiday I would have to wait until Monday to get the document and start that process.  He told me I would be able to get that document at the North Fulton Annex building.

I went into the North Fulton Annex on Monday following the Thanksgiving break and asked the front desk where I needed to go to get this "Keep the Peace" document and sure enough,  they have never even heard of such a document.  Unbelievable.  I was told I could go to the Superior Court office within the North Fulton Annex building because this was surely something that needed to be done at the Superior Court level.

When I got to talk to the lady in the Superior Court office and went through my story again I was given the same run around.  She has never heard of it and there is nothing that can be done to help me.  She makes a phone call to some person who might have an answer and when the phone call ends it's the same thing.  Nothing can be done and you need to go file a contempt charge.

I have been denied priceless time with my daughter, I am a good father that continues to pay his child support, I have filed a contempt charge, I have been on time and at the pick up spot every time my legal visitation was suppose to occur for the last 6 months.  I have been in conversations with police officers, court clerks and lawyers and nothing has happened.  This is a hopeless situation in our society and in our modern day with all of the focus on poor parenting and dead beat dads and child abuse and neglect when a father who has been blatantly and supposedly unlawfully denied his precious time with his 8 year old daughter you would think someone would step to the plate and advocate for this ongoing unspoken tragedy of our modern family.

My Thanksgiving was a mess but we made the best of it.  It's like having one of your kids held hostage.  I was not even allowed to talk to my 8 year old on Thanksgiving day.  I just don't have words to describe the helplessness that comes with this ordeal.  If you do, please leave your comments below. 

Denied Visitation Thanksgiving Day - Not Even Allowed To Talk To My Daughter

Thanksgiving day 2011 has all but come and gone and not only was I denied the visitation time with my daughter today but the mother also blocked all of my calls.  

I have called all day long and never got an answer.  I did receive one text message though and thought I would let you take a look at that since it is so blatantly sent by her mother since all of the punctuation is included.  My daughter is 8 years old so the punctuation would certainly not be so well laid out.   Especially in a text.  

Happy thanksgiving love marlayna!!!! 

I am at a friends house and can't call right now. I love you.

This was sent from her mother's phone so I don't know why she would not have been able to call me.  In fact I received this directly after one of my phone calls to the cell phone about 7:00 pm Thanksgiving Day. 

In one last attempt I just called the cell phone and the house number a few times but neither was answered. It is about 9:00 pm.

Once again I am just really typing this to try to find some relief because the weight of this ordeal is incredibly heavy.

I feel like people must feel when their loved one is kidnapped.  Helpless, angry, desperate, scared that you will never see them again.  It's a kind of panic that makes it hard to breath at times. 

The idea that this kind of behavior can go on without any recourse is just depressing.  It makes you want to scream and yet all I can do is sit here and try to stay calm. 

If you are reading this and have a similar situation please leave a comment and let me know I am not alone.  I will say the more this carries on, the more I desperately want to find a way to bring about change in our system to give some power to the good and loving father's that experience this kind of torture.

I really don't understand how our society and the rest of the world can continue to allow this to occur and rationalize that this is any different then other forms of child abuse, child neglect, and kidnapping.   

On top of that the pain and suffering that occurs for the parent who is getting refused the right to see and spend time with their children is tremendous.  The loss of time, that will never be returned.  There is no monetary value that can be applied to the loss of time.  

Please leave your comments below and thank you for reading. 

A Full Day of Custody Attempts - No Success - November 23, 2011

I am just exhausted both mentally and physically.  I wanted to write this though before the night turned into the morning and I lost pieces of the day.

Today was a full on battle to try and get my daughter for the Thanksgiving Holiday. This year Thanksgiving is my holiday of rotation but just like all the other visitations that have been taken from me, Thanksgiving has been taken too.

After stating in an email on Tuesday afternoon around noon that I would be at my daughters mother's house at noon to pick my daughter up I did not hear back from the mother until 11:33 am. on Wednesday, stating that I would not be allowed to have my daughter for the holiday. I showed up at the house and video taped the attempt and then went straight to the Sandy Springs Police Department to see if there wasn't something that could be done.




You see this holiday was a little different then the regular scheduled visits because my younger daughters step sister is here for the holiday as well and she desperately wanted to see her sister who she has not seen in over 6 months. This whole thing is such a disaster I can't even get my head around it.  I am so disgusted with the apathy of the system and the lack of sense about what is really going on in our society.  To have such a movement against dead beat dads but completely turn the other way when so many mother's are creating this kind of societal melt down, I can't believe it.

This phenomenon has really started to gain momentum and will cause more harm in the years to come in our society then any dead beat dad situation.  This is ripe with hatred and spite and deceit and every other kind of societal behavioral disaster you can think of. 

The bottom line is once again, but in greater detail there is nothing the police can or are willing to do in this type of case. I was told to try and contact the Fulton County sheriff because they deal more with the civil cases. I called the Sheriff's office to see if I could get a Sheriff to meet me at her house but they are not willing to do anything either. My hands are tied in so many ways it is not even funny and there is no one willing to step up and help out with something like this. The mother gets to act and behave the way she wants and there is no authority to hold her accountable.

The ironic thing about this whole process is the Jury Duty notice I received in the mail last week. I have to appear in court next Tuesday for Jury Duty or else I am in contempt of the court and can be fined or do jail time. This is the second Jury Duty summons I have had in about 3 years. My case for the contempt of the decree and to modify visitation against my X-wife has strung out for 2 years. It seems the courts are able to put the citizens in rotation for jury duty and threaten them with contempt of court more efficiently then they are able to help the citizens work through civil situations that are blatantly in contempt of court.

There have to be more people living in Fulton county then there are cases in front of mine I put in the court systems over 2 years ago, don't you think?

Georgia Father Denied Visitation - November 4, 2011

Here is another piece of the ongoing saga of denial of visitation rights for my daughter. I have not seen her for 6 months now and barely been able to talk to her but for a handful of times. This is a quick video to document the attempt at pick up.