It's now a clear seven days since the hearing and things have settled down.
My daughter has use again of a landline and needs to call her similar-aged cousins every night, regardless. They are on email as well, but keeping the phone busy for an hour is apparently better. Girls!
That prompted the first new rule, five minute max calls on school days. The phone has a call timer so no excuses.
I enrolled her at her new school on Thursday morning. The Head knew who she was as we walked through the temporary entrance (the builders are still in). The Deputy Head recognised me, it's a small town! I then spent some time with the Special Needs Co-ordinator explaining the issues. That included getting days off for court-related stuff.
My daughter didn't have to start until Monday 6th but chose to stay for the morning of the first day of the new school year.
Before Thursday we had been swimming, walking, shopping etc etc. No problems there - no tears or tantrums either.
So, the problems? Firstly my son and his aunt stopped returning calls or texts. Then a call from my solicitor ....
..... my ex's mother has gone to a firm of solicitors to apply for a residence order for my daughter. The application has to be referred to Social Services but my solicitor has to make a rebuttal first. She lives in the same town as the ex so things would pretty much return to their previous setup if that application succeeded, which is reason enough to block it.
Trouble is, I am spending much more on this than I should - especially if I'm paying for Social Services to be in court (instead of them making the application), the past month has cost me nearly £2700 in fees. Not good. Ex mother-in-law will get free legal access.
She has not made one attempt to contact my daughter as yet and hasn;t spoken to my son either. The aunt got back to me this evening, she's changed her mobile number. My son replied as well, but I got the text after 9pm (the latest I'll call or text), so he'll get a call in the morning. The aunt knows nothing of the new problem - yet.
So, one week into a stable secure future for my daughter, someone wants to cause chaos and potential danger. Either way, she hates me enough to have started an abuse allegation two years ago.
Topsy
It's amazing
how wrigglers come out of the woodwork. Rather than act in the best interests of the children, they are more inclined to behave like idiots, particularly as the state is footing the bill.
Hang in there.
Susie
Residence Order
After quickly looking up the ins and outs of ROs, it seems likely your ex's mother will have to apply for leave from the court before she can make an RO.
Given what we know of the case history, hopefully the judge will refuse permission to apply. Given a court has just given you custody, an application from your ex's mother within a week suggests an ulterior motive to the nature - especially as she's made no direct contact with your daughter recently; being a close relation to the ex, who's just had custody removed should be another black mark; and it pretty much goes without saying that the application would disrupt your daughter's life and cause harm.
Unfortunately, it looks as though your ex and her family will try every (legal!) trick in the book to try to win custody back, so be prepared for more legal bills until you get permanent custody (and if they don't stop soon, possibly even a court order limiting their access to your daughter).
It's a shame that you had to fight like mad to gain custody of your daughter, and now you've gained custody, you've got to fight like mad to retain it. But at least her situation is now better than it was, even if not completely settled yet.
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...
There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...