Q: Can I lose custody if my child is in daycare to much even if the judge mandated it?

A: As a litigator, what I constantly have to remind myself is that judges don't care how good my argument is to give my client custody, or how persuasive I am about the good things my client is doing etc., if it's not in the child's best interests. This is thE ONLY factor that the Court is allowed to look at. What amazes me is that the Magistrate Judge you were in front of, made the executive decision that putting your child in day care 5 days a week is too much; whereas perhaps a different Magistrate, somewhere else, might have decided that daycare 5 days a week was safer and healthier for the child, when compared to _____________________, you didn't say. But, for whatEVER reason(s), this judge listened to the evidence, and made the decision, that SOMETHING else was better for the child's emotional and/or physical health, than being in daycare 5 days a week. The fact that you are a single mother, doing the best you can, having to work 5 days a week, PROBABLY was taken into consideration, but it wasn't considered to be in your child's best interests. A story: that's undoubtedly why Idaho is known as having a "fast track" for adoption! I have seen a teenager, who lives with a crack or crank addicted mother and loves their mother, be adopted, even though they would rather live in squalor with this mother, who is "doing the best she can, at the moment," because a judge's ONLY consideration, certainly ISN'T what the parents necessarily want, unless the parents' "wants" coincide with what the judge believes is the child's best interests. And, the court's consideration in the above example was that it would be better to have this child suffer from abandonment and feelings of emptiness and abject loneliness, after the adoption, than to live another day with a drug addict mother. So, in that case, it didn't matter what the parent wanted or even what the child wanted, as long as the Court put this child out of immediate danger. It's a difficult thing, particularly when you're doing the best you can do, to not say, "that's good enough." But, if it comes to a court, it may not be "good enough." That is a very, tough break! I'm sorry.