(I've overridden your followup a bit, to put misc.kids back in, as I
don't read the other groups.)


On Mon, 17 Nov 2003 17:53:34 -0600, "David W."
wrote:

In many states, when you have a contact (visitation) order from the
court, you can call the police and ask them to enforce it. So if you
are at your ex's house at the court-appointed time, and she won't let
the kids go, the police can come out and "make" her let them go. I
assume that means that they give her the choice of letting you take
the kids or going to jail.

Unfortunately, that's not what happens, at least not where I live.
Since family court is a civil court, the most the police would do when I
asked for help to enforce visitation was speak to my ex and encourage
him to return our son (which he opted not to do). The officers also saw
and spoke with our son to ensure he was okay. The officers were very
polite to me and encouraged me to contact the court for resolution,
because that was the limit of their authority.

*You* have to decide whether the kids are better off with the
confrontation, police, and time spent with you, or better off without
all the tension and conflict, and without time with you. In many ways,
the kids lose either way.

I hope there's a middle ground for most people, where non-custodial
parents (or joint-custodial parents in a disagreement over parenting
time, which was the root of my example above) can get to some resolution
other than fighting or walking away, but repetetive appearances in
family court to ask for aid in enforcing orders is neither an easy nor a
cheap process, and it's very wearing.