Parent withholding your child? Are you being
alienated? This mother finally got a Texas District Attorney’s office
to enforce the penal code regarding child custody interference. They
arrested the father yesterday, March 2, 2017, and she was able to go and
pick her children up immediately.
Penal Code 25.03 says that a person is interfering with the custody of a child “when
the person knows that the…retention violates the express terms of a judgment
or order.” In the past, however, parents have been told to go to family court
to resolve this crime and were unable to get police or the D.A. to do anything to
help them.
Thanks to Michael Turi and Mike Clifton for the research and calls that they made to every D.A. and
chief of police. The administration in many of the offices now are changing
their attitude towards enforcing these criminal codes on parents withholding
the child from the other parent. It is a criminal offense to violate
a custody order and Penal code 25.03 says that it is a jail felony offense to
interfere with custody of a child.
Texas is leading the way for bringing justice
back to the families in their communities. In fact, House Representative
James White has sponsored HB 3883 introducing an easier way to enforce
custody orders. See that post here.
What Happens Next?
For most parents enforcing custody orders is expensive and difficult, and many
cannot afford it. The mother of these children is having to run a GoFund me so that she can afford an attorney to help her with the orders
needed. She believes that children should be able to rely on family court
orders. When a court issues an order in the best interest of the children, then
that court has made a determination that it is in the child’s best
interest to the time that the order sets out with each of their parents. Any
parent acting against those orders then would be acting against the
child’s best interest, right?
The mother says that her attorney estimates that it is going to require about $5000.00
to take this back to court to modify.
*We have not revealed the identity of this family since this is currently ongoing and
don’t want to affect their case.
