Military mom to be reunited with children after custody issue

On behalf of Furr & Cohen, P.A. posted in Child Custody on Friday, September 4, 2015.

The case of the Florida military veteran who has been fighting for custody of her two children has finally been settled. The courts ruled that the woman would regain custody of her two teenage children and was due to be reunited with them at the end of August. This particular case has served as an interesting example of some of the hurdles service members may face once they return home.

According to reports, the woman went into the military while she was married to the father of the two children to get “control over her life.” During the course of her service she was deployed to both Iraq and Afghanistan. During one deployment in 2009, she was told that there was a “family situation,” and she was sent home on emergency leave. The military gave her two weeks to determine an appropriate person to take care of the children when she returned to finish her deployment.

When she arrived back in the United States, she found that her husband had been in and out of jail and could not provide a stable environment. She left the children in the care of her stepmother and returned to service. While the mother was overseas, the stepmother took the children to New Jersey and the children ended up in foster care.

The mother returned in 2013, to find that the state of New Jersey would not return the children to her until the Florida Department of Children and Families agreed to provide the same services the children had been getting in New Jersey. Florida DCF has protested this, however, resulting in the delay of the mother being reunited with her children.

While this case came to a positive conclusion, it’s a situation that other service members may find themselves in after they return home to difficult circumstances. In these cases, a family law attorney can help you understand your rights and options for regaining custody

Source: Yahoo! Parenting, “Military Mom Returns From War to Discover She Must Fight for Custody of Kids” Beth Greenfield, Aug. 18, 2015