Can a parent be charged with kidnapping for taking their child to live out of state without the other parentu2019s consent? Can they be sued for sole custody due to the kidnapping charge?
I am the original poster. Since they didnu2019t allow me to go into details when I asked this question, I am giving you the details now. Itu2019s kind of convoluted so please bear with me.The mother and father(who is a family member of mine )were never married yet they had a child together.The father has been making financial payments for his child for the entire time sheu2019s been alive(not court ordered. Heu2019s just trying to do the right thing by his child ), has been fighting for visitation for every other weekend and alternating holidays -which was all able to occur without it having to go into the family court system.To make a long story short, the mother is extremely anxiety-ridden and because of that the child behaves in the same manner and gets physically ill anytime she has to spend a night away from her mother( who she lives with regularly despite the father fighting to have partial visitation all this time.)Over the past few years the child has improved with spending the night at a friendu2019s house etc. without this separation anxiety taking place but when it comes to spending time at her fatheru2019s house(overnight)and her stepmother, (all three which get along fine,)this kid starts getting sick. They take her places they do things with her she has a great time with sheu2019s over there, this only happens when she has to spend the night over there. I had her over to my house once and she did the same thing and had me up all night throwing up and stuff because she gets anxious about being away from her mother .We are starting to believe that the childu2019s Mother is painting a negative picture of the father right before visitation which is why the kid keeps on getting sick anytime she have to go and visit her father overnight. Tells her sheu2019s going to be lonely there without her mother, tells her that she might be scared over there with her father and that kind of shit . Child was eight or nine at the time and now she just turned 11. This whole thing started because sheu2019s actually at her fathers house right now and heu2019s telling us that sheu2019s throwing up and stuff and the whole thing just frustrates him because heu2019s not making an environment in which she should be anxious or scared of anything but we understand a child has a problem with separation anxiety.We all think the mother has a screw or two loose and I personally feel that she is afraid that we may be bad mouthing her to the child, which is not happening because the child already knows her mother is anxious so we donu2019t have to tell her anything anyway. Everyone sees it . and she is doing it back to the childu2019s father off of something thatu2019s not even happening from us.So in the long run, for pretty much most of this childu2019s life, her mother has turned her into an anxious, nervous child both from stuff that she says and does around the child lots of the time. Sheu2019s even taking a girl to a psychiatrist but itu2019s the mother that needs the psychiatrist and she wonu2019t do it.Here is the basis of my question(Now that you have a bit of history of the situation ).The problem we have now is that the mother is trying to have her own life( and thereu2019s nothing wrong with that because she tried to hang on to the childu2019s father for a long time and he moved on and married somebody else. She needed to move on and we believe sheu2019s been seeing this guy for a couple of years but sheu2019s never brought him around, not that sheu2019s obligated because thatu2019s her private life ) now with a different man and she wants to uproot this child and take her to another state, and she has not discussed this with the childu2019s father and he doesnu2019t want to not have access to his child so we believe that he can charge her with kidnapping if she goes through with this.The other thing is that the child (having so much anxiety )has been inconsolable these past six weeks due to the mother constantly talking about them moving away when all the family the child has ever known is in the state we live in now. The child is a girl, just about to enter puberty and the mother is most likely going to move in with her boyfriend, but none of us in the family know this person nor have we ever met him and we donu2019t know if itu2019s safe for the child to be around this man.The mother has blinders on and is only chasing her own happiness and sheu2019s already talking about just getting a babysitter when she wants to go away for the weekend and stuff like that, leaving her child with someone that the child barely knows in another state where the child has no other family members.The mother currently lives with her own mother (who is kind of really helpful for keeping an eye on the kid, this and that and any time her daughter wants to go away with this guy for weekend overnight or whatever) Sheu2019s beside herself too because she does not want her granddaughter or her daughter to leave the state.Weu2019re all really upset about this because we think sheu2019s crazy enough to actually go through with this move and our only concern is for the welfare of the child. I donu2019t know how the father is going to handle this but itu2019s going to be messy no matter what and again, we worry about the welfare of what this mess could do to this child since sheu2019s already so anxiety ridden. Both of our families get on really well and this has really been the talk of everything the past couple of months because we all feel itu2019s a big mistake but we donu2019t know how to get through to the mother to make her see that this is really not a good idea.To be honest, I even offered to take the child in for a while so she could have some stability while her mother is trying to work out this thing with her boyfriend, who has been pressuring her to move to this other state because thatu2019s the state he lives in.Iu2019m not saying she shouldnu2019t have her life but once you have a child and the childu2019s father is here in the state you canu2019t just traipse off somewhere else unless that other parent give some kind of permission( when she is not willing to give because heu2019s been fighting for visitation for the last 11 years )Sheu2019s planning on just taking the kid, moving to the other state and not involve the childu2019s father at all for which I think he should be able to sue her for joint custody.Childu2019s mother is not using sound judgment and it will definitely affect her child negatively for years to come. Due to her work schedule she is barely around as it is and the kid is by herself a lot of the time at home with the grandmother, but she doesnu2019t seem to want the child to be able to visit her own father or the other family members either.Like I said, itu2019s a big problem but this paranoia she has is just causing a lot of problemsAnd for the person has said we were foolish to post this on here how the hell else are we supposed to know or get some general advice on which way we should turn unless we ask? Iu2019m sure that a lawyer will come into it at some point, but thatu2019s only if she really does try to go through with this. Now if she finds out that she could be charged with kidnapping she might scrap the whole thing and not try that way in which we wouldnu2019t need a lawyer. But Iu2019m super still pretty sure that the father would take this to family court and try to get visitation on paper so he would be allowed court ordered time with his child. He tried to do things nicely and not make a problem but now the childu2019s mother isnu2019t playing fair .Trust me, Iu2019ve seen stupider questions on here than one that I asked. Just looking for some advice that I can offer because weu2019re going to have a family meeting about it and try to talk to the mother and we need to be sure that we have proper ammunition to make her see that this is a bad idea .
