Q: Can I regain custody of my son if his father refuses to return him and has a pending felony charge in Grant County, WA?
My son's father and I have a residential schedule that states our son is to reside with me in Grant County, WA, but we do not have a formal parenting plan. I allowed him some parenting time, and now he refuses to return our son to me. The police and CPS have informed me this is a civil issue. I recently completed an interview with a pro bono service regarding the matter, and I found out that my son's father has a pending class B felony charge of 'sabotage' in Grant County. I have always made visitation available to him, but he has rarely exercised it. I'm planning to go to the courthouse on Tuesday, and my case was referred to Central WA Legal Aid on 2/7. I have a clean record. Will I be likely to get my son back into my care?
A:
I am so sorry that you have been going through this, but at the stage I'd strongly urge you to file a legal action for custody in whatever Family Court (through Superior Court) is closest to you in Washington.
If you are low-income, you may be able to get free legal assistance in this matter.
In any event, this is a great starting place to find information to help you: https://www.womenslaw.org/laws/wa
Read through the sections on custody and parental kidnapping before you contact this organization for an appointment.
In Grant County, you may be able to go to the courthouse and get some help specific to Grant County, too. Here is the starting place for information about that: https://www.grantcountywa.gov/307/Court-Facilitator-Information
Good luck to you!
Merry
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