Anyone know a child advocacy lawyer???

[RSWANNABE]

My sister and my nephew are having a very difficult time with my sisters ex husband.

The POS does not take care of my nephew and has allowed him to be abused by cousin. I won't say anything more than that on a public forum.
My sister has taken this in front of the referee for the court and as well the police and detectives. It was ordered that the father allows ZERO contact between my nephew and his teenage cousin. We found out that over Christmas they were again together. My sister has brought this in front of the referee again and he seems to find it fitting to berate my sister over doing so. He told my sister that a person can't watch their child all the time, and that the order stands that the dad not allow them to be near each other. So nothing else was done regarding this, she immediately filed an appeal to be seen in front of the judge.

March 4th is her date in front of the judge.

She has contacted CPS also because while my nephew was there for 2 weeks there is no running water in the house or heat. They said they reviewed the case and deemed it not worthy of further investigation.

This is in Warren and any help or direction towards helping her would be greatly appreciated. Also she is a single mom that is really struggling to make it so money is tight and any free help would be a blessing to her but especially my nephew.

 

[mrvids]

If you need to report suspected child abuse, please call child protective services at 855-444-3911 .

The Weiss Advocacy Center isn't in Warren but should be able to direct you.
Weiss Advocacy Center
Phone 810-238-3333

 

[sonicnotch]

The unfortunate thing is that most likely she's going to have to shell out some decent money because everything with court/lawyers is expensive. I know it's hard but she needs to get proof and contact the police while the teenage cousin is around her son. She also needs to have her paperwork showing that the cousin is not allowed to be around, that way the ex can be held in contempt of court. If she doesn't have the paperwork the police can at least write a report/a service call with notes, noting who was in the house at the time of their visit. If she finds out that the cousin was around her son a week ago and she doesn't have the ex-husband on tape admitting to it, there's probably not a lot that will happen because it will turn into he-said/she-said. How old is your nephew? Does the father know that his son was abused? Does he just not believe it?

Does the home have heat/running water now? She could have a lawyer subpena the city/energy company to show that heat/water was off during the time period your nephew was there.

Maybe there is an attorney here on motown that could help out/know someone who does pro-bono work. She could invest in a good digital recorder to record all conversations with her ex, maybe catch him slipping. I hope you guys can get this justified, it's not fair for the child. There's nothing worse than ANY type of abuse toward a child.

 

[ccbchevy]

The issue with the water and heat is crazy, but when I livied in the city I had a neighbor squatting in a house next to me with no running water, no gas, illegal hooked up electricity and the house had fire damage and had holes in the wall with bare wires and was a pig stei. He and his wife had two kids about 2 and 12 I contacted protective services they came out and did nothing and this was in the middle of the winter whith no heat.

 

[RSWANNABE]

If you need to report suspected child abuse, please call child protective services at 855-444-3911 .

The Weiss Advocacy Center isn't in Warren but should be able to direct you.
Weiss Advocacy Center
Phone 810-238-3333

Thank you I'll forward her the info.
Like I mentioned CPS has done nothing, but I will tell her to get back in touch with them, and stay on them.

The unfortunate thing is that most likely she's going to have to shell out some decent money because everything with court/lawyers is expensive. I know it's hard but she needs to get proof and contact the police while the teenage cousin is around her son. She also needs to have her paperwork showing that the cousin is not allowed to be around, that way the ex can be held in contempt of court. If she doesn't have the paperwork the police can at least write a report/a service call with notes, noting who was in the house at the time of their visit. If she finds out that the cousin was around her son a week ago and she doesn't have the ex-husband on tape admitting to it, there's probably not a lot that will happen because it will turn into he-said/she-said. How old is your nephew? Does the father know that his son was abused? Does he just not believe it?

Does the home have heat/running water now? She could have a lawyer subpena the city/energy company to show that heat/water was off during the time period your nephew was there.

Maybe there is an attorney here on motown that could help out/know someone who does pro-bono work. She could invest in a good digital recorder to record all conversations with her ex, maybe catch him slipping. I hope you guys can get this justified, it's not fair for the child. There's nothing worse than ANY type of abuse toward a child.

The only way we know that my nephew was around his cousin is because he told us and then tried take it back. He was so afraid and nervous that he was going to be in trouble with his dad because he told that he was with his cousin. As soon as my sister or wife tried to ask any questions he just got fidgety and kept saying that nothing happened they were only popping balloons. He did say that they did this on three separate occasions. My sister had to put him back into counselling because you can tell that something is amiss. My sister doesn't pick him up or drop him off and all communication is by text. So trying to catch anything is impossible. When she confronts the dad about him having my nephew by his cousin he always has some excuse about I didn't know he was going to be there. But he was living with the cousins mom (the dads sister), and I think he still does or lives like right around the corner or something very close.

The dad knows he was abused and fails to acknowledge it. Says that they are only kids, my nephew is now only 8 and his cousin is a teenager. He says that you really can't believe my nephew because he is only little.

I will pass on your pointers to her and pray that something good comes out of this.

Thank you.

 

[TRBOBUICK]

Contact wikdsvt . Now . 70% of his cases are family court related.

 

[DeFormula]

Have your sister file a police report and press charges if it hasn't been done. Sounds like a criminal situation and the right police may be able to guide you on how to handle this. I don't know how old the abuser is but possibly he can be removed or placed in custody. You have to do all you can to protect your nephew. The effects of this type of situation can be more devastating than anyone who hasn't been there can possibly imagine. It can tear families apart way down the road. It's BS that the nephew can't be believed because he is eight years old. If something doesn't seem right I'm sure it isn't.

 

[wikdsvt]

Macomb county:
http://www.lakeshorelegalaid.org/ (a friend used to work here)

Wayne County:
http://www.detroitflac.com/

Tri-county:
http://www.ladadetroit.org/contactus.php