I can't believe this can happen

[nfotiu]

So I come home on Friday and find the woman across the street bawling talking to my wife. Apparently she was in a very abusive relationship for many years, that ended with her husband being arrested. And she was awarded full custody of the children by the courts. He had threatened and tried to kill her, so the government helped her and her 3 children change all their names and SSNs.

She has been living with the children under their new identities for a few years now. She gets a call from a teacher at the children's school saying that her ex-husband showed up with a police officer and took the children out of school. The principal said she was not supposed to call her, but she said she had to. First of all, how did the principal intend for her to find out??? Come to pick up her kids, and surprise they are gone! Second, the law says (and you'd hope a principal of a school would be well aware of what to do in something like this), that the child should be released to child services in these circumstances so that they can work it out and be sure.

Well it turns out, the guy showed up at the police station with a fake court order and convinced the detective to help him go get his kids. It is unbelievable that the police would fall for this, and it is completely unacceptable that a principal would allow this to happen without verifying, and without following the proper protocol.

Now the father has the children presumably in a different state. The woman is in hiding, because she is scared he will come after her. The cops are spending lots of time at her house, but are not yet helping her find them.

He purposely pulled this off on a Friday, so she would not be able to access the courts. She was able to get before a couple judges though, and both had decisions in her favour, but apparently the FBI says that they need more from the courts before they can go ahead and look for them and issue an amber alert. It is beyond me why they can't just track down the kids and hold them until they get what they need from the courts on Monday.

Talk about every level of government letting down someone who needs it the most. I am just so furious and have no idea what to do to help her. I just can't believe the cops and school wouldn't be more careful about something so important.

[Bobblehead]

Sounds like a time for an Amber Alert, or has too much time passed?

[Resolute 14]

Well, on the bright side, when they catch this guy, the list of felonies he will be convicted of should make her and her kids life a little safer. Forgery, kidnapping, taking a child across state lines, lying to police. He's gonna get a few years.

And, maybe she can sue the hell out of the principle, cops and school for what they are putting her though via their incompetence.

[Displaced Flames fan]

Unbelievable N.

The scary part is that the ex was able to track them down. I wonder how that happened.

[Antithesis]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Talk about every level of government letting down someone who needs it the most. I am just so furious and have no idea what to do to help her. I just can't believe the cops and school wouldn't be more careful about something so important.

To be fair, according to what you're saying, the guy had a police officer with him. I agree that this is terrible and a failure on every level, but the principal probably thought that since the police officer was there that everything is kosher.