1st Visit with the New Rules

Saturday was the first visit without mandatory professional supervision.  I don't have my official paperwork yet as it takes a few weeks to get it from the court, but I wrote down the basics as the judge rattled them off.  He doesn't have to have a professional supervisor, but he is required to have an adult with him.  This can, of course, be any adult of his choosing, including Big Sis, even though she would never stand up to him for her sisters.  Oh well.

It was Sis's birthday and was a beach party.  I guess things went okay.  A&J were definitely ready for me to pick them up when I got there, but they didn't have anything negative to say.  Lots of family around and not too much contact with him, I'm sure.  Their only comment was that he didn't get them a good gift for sis, and instead gave her a $20 bill from him and them.  Almost like, "Oh!  Its your birthday??? Well, what do I have in my wallet... A twenty... hmmm, that will work."  Lame.  Good thing we mailed her a gift.

A few behavior issues at school and home the Thursday and Friday before the visit.  But that's not unusual for right before visitation.  I think the therapy with Dr. C will make things easier for the girls.  At least they get to see him every week.

We also have required once a week phone calls.  No required length of time.  I was sitting in the living room when the call came in last night.  A&J took the phone back to their bedroom and reappeared literally 2 minutes later.  I guess they asked about their new phones he is buying them - Galaxy SIII - and when they are supposed to arrive at our house via mail.  Then when he tried to start talking to them, they said "We don't want to talk anymore" and hung up.  Nice.

Whats Been Going On For the Last Year?

Its been close to a year since the last posting.  A lot of changes have taken place.  So here's a short rundown:

We moved to San Diego.  We got supervised visitation with the Grandpa.  Kids refused to get in the car and we ended up having "curb-side 20 minute visits".  That failed.

Back to court.  We got therapy for the girls approved by the judge.  Had some issues finding someone who was willing to take our case since we have rules like "non-confidential" and "must report to the court".  We got supervised visitation with a professional $250 per hour monitor.  Ouch.  That turned out to be not such a good idea since she was more concerned about reunification of the dad and the kids then how the kids are coping. Kids usually left those visits in tears and turmoil.  Finally found a child advocate local therapist for the girls.  He specializes in children dealing with domestic violence issues.  The girls love him.  Bonus.

Recently we are back in court again and the professional visitation specialist wrote 2 letters stating that Dad is not a risk, kids are making false statements regarding alleged abuse.  Mother is uncooperative and interfering with bonding between Dad and kids.  Needless to say, I got reamed in court.  Part of the reason for restarting this blog is I need to document everything for the next court hearing in July.

Details to follow soon now that we're caught up...